This Is Our Life
by Kurrent
Summary: Story 4 in my Lileyverse. This one picks up at the end of Miley's and Lilly's senior year, with us following our heroines through the senior trip, the prom, and finally graduation! Definite Liley, as always!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Welcome back! This is the first chapter of the fourth story in my Lileyverse. This story begins about a year and four months after the end of my third story, "As I Am, I Take Thee." We're now in March 2010, when Miley and Lilly are both eighteen and finishing their senior years at Seaview High School. Oh, and I'm thinking this story might have a bit more R-rated moments in it. Just a feeling. I'm kind of in the mood to write this story with a bit more, um, intensity. Hope no one minds.

Here are my standard disclaimers: I make no claims on any of Disney's, Miley Cyrus', Emily Osment's or Hannah Montana's trademarks or copyrights, and no infringement is intended. Be forewarned that this story most certainly will contain femslash. If love and affection between two consenting young adults of the same sex bothers you, I suggest you turn right around and find something else to read. Keep any flames to yourself and remember that what our world needs now is more love and acceptance, not more hate. Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated!

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 1: Healing Hands

_I still hear your voice when you sleep next to me_

_I still feel your touch in my dreams_

_Forgive me my weakness, but I don't know why_

_Without you, it's hard to survive_

_--_Cascada"Everytime We Touch"

"ACHOO!" As Lilly Truscott sneezed for what felt like the fiftieth time that day, her headache reminded her that she wasn't dead yet. "Ugh, my head," she groaned as she pressed her hands against her temples, willing the pain to go away without much success.

"Here you go, darlin'," said her father-in-law, Robbie Ray Stewart, as he carried a cup of hot tea over to her, placing it on the coffee table pulled next to the couch that currently held Lilly. "Packed full of sugar with a good bit a' honey, too, just like you like it." He ruffled Lilly's unruly blonde hair, smiling as he wished he could do something to make this flu go away sooner.

"Thanks, Mr. S," Lilly said, managing a weak smile for the man who had been a second father to her for years before becoming her father-in-law for real a year and a half ago. She shifted awkwardly on the couch, flipping the blanket off her abruptly. "I just wish my body could figure out if it was too hot or too cold! This back and forth is really aggravating!"

Robbie Ray carried Lilly's bowl of chicken noodle soup back to the kitchen. He noted that she had been able to eat some of it, but it was still much less than what he was used to from his daughter-in-law. _First__daughter-in-law_, he corrected himself mentally as he thought of his son Jackson and his wife Kaela, away at school in Tennessee. He turned back to Lilly and said, "Lilly, I'm goin' upstairs and getting' ready to run into town later after Miles gets home. You need anything 'fore I go upstairs?"

"Just to get over this darn flu," Lilly said.

"Wish I could make that happen," Robbie Ray said as he climbed the stairs.

"I wish you could too," Lilly muttered. She was frustrated just as much as she was sick. _I don't get sick! And I've never had the flu until now._ She looked at the clock on the wall, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the one person she wanted to see more than anyone else.

The sound of a key in the front door lock told Lilly that someone was home, but the surge of happiness she felt in her heart told her exactly who it was coming inside. "Hey hon," Lilly said as her wife came in the door.

As Miley Truscott dropped her two backpacks onto the floor, she closed the door as a look of concern flashed across her face. "Aw sweetheart, you still not feelin' any better?" she said as she hurried over to the couch, her accent intensifying slightly due to her concern for her wife. She sat on the edge of the couch cushions, her hip just against Lilly's chest as she reached down and gently caressed Lilly's face, finally resting her hand on her wife's forehead. "You're not as warm as you were this morning," Miley said happily. "I think you're finally startin' to shake this."

"Ugh, I hope so," Lilly said as she reached up and took Miley's hand in her own, squeezing it in what she hoped was a firm grip. "Missed you."

Miley leaned down and kissed Lilly on the forehead, saying, "I missed you too." Before Lilly could protest, Miley leaned back down and kissed Lilly on the lips, lingering for several seconds as she gently licked Lilly's lips with the tip of her tongue.

When Miley pulled back, Lilly said, "I'm not gonna say I wish you wouldn't do that, 'cause it feels like heaven," pleasure in her voice for the first time in hours. "I just hope you don't get sick from kissing on me." As they spoke, Robbie Ray came back down the stairs with his cell phone to his ear and hurried into the kitchen, waving at Miley as he saw his daughter.

Miley smiled as she waved back, then she looked down into Lilly's pretty blue eyes, still slightly red from being sick. "I hope I don't get sick either, Lilly Bear, but I'm not going to stop kissing you. Not for anything." Miley stood, tugging on Lilly's hands. "Come on," she said with a smile, "you look like you're getting those body aches again. I bet a nice warm shower would make you feel much better."

Lilly weakly grinned as Miley helped her to her feet, standing in place for a few seconds as the room spun slowly. She had learned to take it easy standing after she fell two days ago. Before she started walking, Lilly said, "Does that shower come with my own shower buddy?", smiling broadly at the slight blush across her wife's face.

"Not something I need to know!" came Robbie Ray's voice from the kitchen, making Miley blush even more.

Miley smiled a huge smile at her father and said, "Love you, Daddy!" right before she began tugging Lilly toward the stairs.

"Hey, take it easy!" Lilly said. "I'm sick, remember?"

"Yeah," Miley replied, "I can tell," muttering under her breath.

Lilly suppressed the urge to giggle, which was rather strong at that time. The good-natured teasing still came easily to the two of them, which Lilly deeply appreciated. It was what made their relationship so happy, the ability to joke around with each other without either of them getting truly angry or offended. Still, Miley _had_ been embarrassed. Lilly turned to the kitchen as they walked across the living room and cheerily said, "We _are_ married, Robbie Ray. Not like it's anything you didn't know about," hoping he'd get the point. She was more comfortable using his first name now, but she tended to reserve it for when she wanted to deal with him on a relatively equal basis. Such as reminding him that Miley was her wife, and that they had every right to make love in their shower.

As they went into their room, Lilly braced herself weakly for the mild fussing she expected to get about saying things like that with Miley's father within earshot. But when she sat on the side of their bed and looked at Miley, she saw only a look of concern and love.

"Oh sweetheart," Miley said as she ran her hand through Lilly's disheveled blonde hair and finally cupped her left cheek, "you really feel bad, don't you?"

Lilly nodded. It wasn't an exaggeration. This was the fourth day she had been sick and the third day she had missed school that week. Thankfully, today was a Friday, but she and Miley would be missing the Saint Patrick's Day party being held by their senior class tonight. She sniffed, trying to clear her nose without much luck. "My head is so full of crud that I can't breathe," she said as she sighed, wincing at the pain in her shoulders. As much as her shoulders and back ached, she thought Miley's idea of a shower sounded great. "That offer of a shower still good?" she said as she reached up and took Miley's hand in her own.

Miley nodded. "For you? Always." She kissed Lilly quickly on the lips, then said, "Stay right here." She went into the bathroom, where Lilly could hear her turning on the shower. Miley then came right back and said, "Water's warming up." She helped Lilly up and then wrapped her arms around her, pulling Lilly tightly against her body. Lilly's robe and pajamas and Miley's clothes were still on, but Lilly wasn't complaining. Just the feel of her girlfriend holding her securely made her whole day brighter, and she found herself melting into Miley's warm embrace.

"I love you, Miles," Lilly said, her voice muffled by Miley's shoulder.

"Love you too, Lil," Miley said, rubbing Lilly's back. "Now let's get you in that warm shower. I have a surprise for you."

As they walked into the bathroom, Miley started peeling off her clothes, tossing them in the laundry basket in the corner. Lilly likewise took off her baby blue robe and pajamas; by the time she had her clothes off, Miley pulled back the shower curtain so Lilly could get in while Miley removed her underwear. As the hot water sprayed across Lilly's chest, she shivered before she even realized it, her body reacting to the sudden influx of warmth. She heard the shower curtain behind her open, and a gust of cold air signaled Miley's entrance into the shower, a fact that was also confirmed by Miley's hand rubbing Lilly's stomach tenderly.

"Hi," Miley said softly as she stepped up behind Lilly.

Lilly closed her eyes and leaned back against her wife. She heard something slide down the floor of the bathtub, but she didn't even try to look at it. She was too lost in Miley's embrace to care about what it was Miley had dropped. Then Lilly's eyes began to tingle slightly, followed by her nose. "Miles?" she asked. "What's that--" She stopped short as the congestion in her nostrils suddenly resolved, allowing her to smell a minty aroma. "Oh! I can smell! And my nose is unstopped!" Lilly was thrilled. She turned to look into Miley's face, and she noted the smile on her wife's face. "What did you do?" Lilly asked happily.

Miley kissed Lilly on the tip of her very red nose. "It's called a Shower Soother. It's like a big Alka Seltzer that you put in the shower, where it fizzes and its vapors unclog your nose. Like it?"

"I _love_ it! Just like I love you!" Despite how bad she felt, Lilly kissed Miley, relishing the taste of her wife's lips and mouth. She had missed being able to taste anything over the last few days, but she had missed Miley more than anything. Suddenly Lilly was seized with a desire that she knew all too well, one that she knew she could never—_would_ never—resist. As she pulled away from Miley's lips, Lilly bent her neck to the side and began kissing along Miley's neck, first the left side, then the right. As Miley stretched her head back to let Lilly trail kisses up and down her neck, Lilly felt her heart pound fiercely. "I need you, Miles," she said, her voice rough as she forced out the words. "It's been three days since we made love." Her right hand slid down Miley's back until it was gripping her left buttock; as Lilly squeezed, re-establishing her grip on her woman, she said, "Miles, I need you _now_."

Miley swallowed, her gorgeous throat exposed for Lilly to see as her head was tipped back. "Then take me, Lilly," Miley said, her own voice deep and yearning.

They stepped out of the shower and grabbed one of the oversize towels. As they wrapped it around the two of them together, Lilly seized her opportunity and began kissing Miley passionately. As the two girls tried to dry off using one arm each, they stumbled out of the bathroom, finally just dropping the towel as they reached their bed. Miley reached down to toss back the rainbow comforter—a half-joking gift from Lilly's mother for Christmas—but she couldn't grab the comforter before Lilly pushed her backwards onto the bed.

"Mmmm, I think you _do_ want me," Miley said as she pulled her legs up toward her chest, lifting her knees off the bed as she spread her legs slightly to make room for Lilly.

Lilly crawled across the bed, settling squarely between Miley's thighs as she leaned forward, arms on each side of Miley's chest. Miley reached up and grabbed Lilly's head, pulling her close enough for a deep kiss. "Of course I want you," Lilly moaned as they parted lips. "I _have_ to have you." She kissed her way down Miley's chest, not wasting any time as she licked Miley's belly button upon reaching it.

Miley arched her back at Lilly's fiery trail of kisses, then she finally succeeded in grabbing the comforter and halfway tossing it over them. She wasn't worried about anyone coming in on them, but she knew Lilly would get chilled from where she hadn't dried off completely. But before Miley could tuck the comforter over her lover, Lilly had Miley gasping for breath as her tongue found its goal. Miley cried out, louder than she had planned on, as Lilly began to make love to her furiously. Within minutes, Miley found herself screaming Lilly's name as her orgasm hit her with the intensity of a tidal wave, carrying her rational thought far, far away for several seconds. As soon as Miley's senses started to return, Lilly sent her body into another spasm of ecstasy, this time drawing only frantic gasps from Miley's pounding chest before a third orgasm surged through Miley's already taut body, rendering her incapable of even grunting. As Miley shuddered helplessly, Lilly slid up her wife's body and rolled them to one side, holding Miley close as she shook repeatedly, unable to form any conscious thoughts but aware of two warm arms holding her securely. After long seconds, Miley came back to earth, slowing her breathing into more controlled breaths instead of ragged gasps. "Sweet niblets," she said, trying to catch her breath as she felt her heart still thumping rapidly in her chest.

Lilly opened her mouth to say something, but Miley was having none of that. She shot her head forward, clamping her mouth down over Lilly's as she reached deeper, harder into her wife's mouth. Miley smiled into the kiss as she tasted herself throughout Lilly's mouth, reveling in how much they were able to share themselves with each other. She sat up slowly, sensuously as she kept eye contact with Lilly, who looked like she was about ready to explode with desire. However, as Lilly began to spread her own legs, Miley grabbed her hips and flipped Lilly over onto her stomach. She then pulled Lilly's hips back toward herself, lifting Lilly's butt off the bed and exposing exactly what Miley wanted. "Now it's my turn," she said, her voice hot with lust, as she began to make love to Lilly with a primal intensity that was enthralling for both young women. After less than a minute, Lilly's first orgasm washed over her, making her body shake as she buried her head into their pillow to muffle her scream of delight.

However, Miley was nowhere near satisfied. It had been three days since they had made love, and that was far too long for either of them. She smacked Lilly's butt, then growled, "I'm not done with you yet, Truscott." Lilly lifted her head out of the pillow, then screamed for real as Miley plunged into her again. Using her mouth and her fingers, Miley pulled Lilly through two more orgasms over the next few minutes, with Lilly's cries dwindling to faint panting and incoherent moans by the time her third orgasm surged through her body. At the sound of Lilly's animalistic moaning, Miley felt another orgasm rip through her own body, surprising her as she hadn't even touched herself. As Miley was lost to her own waves of pleasure, she surged forward and fell across Lilly's back, wrapping her arms around Lilly's torso out of pure reflex. The two girls shuddered together for long seconds, their bodies tingling despite being slick with warm sweat. Finally, Miley was able to exert enough control over her body to pull the comforter over the two of them before they both passed out, their bodies overcome with sensation and overloaded with love.

After sleeping for a little over four hours, Lilly came to. She shivered slightly as she felt Miley's long arms holding her tightly, then she had an odd realization. Cautiously, she bent her back slightly. Sure enough, the aching in her back and shoulders was gone. Had the shower done that... or was it something that had felt even better? Lilly rolled over, inadvertently waking Miley as she shifted position. "Hey," Lilly said, smiling.

"Hey," Miley replied, a smile creeping across her own face. "Felt good," Miley whispered.

"Felt _way_ good." Lilly giggled, then she added, "Not really sure what came over me. I just knew that I wanted you so bad, like making love to you would make me feel better." She stared into Miley's eyes and then cautiously said, "In fact, I think it did make me feel better."

Miley reached up and felt Lilly's forehead. "Wow, you're not as hot." She hastily said, "I mean, your fever's gone down. Of course you're still hot." A pause. "Aw heck, you know what I mean."

Lilly laughed. "Yeah, I know what you mean, hon." She looked over at the nightstand, where her empty glass sat. "Want something to drink?"

Miley said, "I want something to eat. Some of us still have our appetite, you know." She disentangled herself from Lilly's grasp and got up. She found her own pink Hannah Montana robe and slipped it on, making sure to tie the belt securely in case her father was back. "Want anything besides a drink?"

Lilly shook her head as she rolled on over onto her stomach. "Nope," she said. "Well, other than you, of course."

Miley grinned as she opened the door to their bedroom. "I'll be right back, Lil." She closed the door as she stepped out, hoping that her dad would be in his bedroom or outside. While she was already hoping for that, she also hoped he had left during their shower a few hours earlier because from what she could remember, she and Lilly had been pretty loud while they were making love afterwards.

As she padded down the stairs, she saw the glow of the television. Her father sat watching some police show with the volume turned down, strumming on a guitar as he quietly sang a song. Miley couldn't hear the words, and she didn't recognize the tune, so she guessed it was some new song he was working on. She tried to open the refrigerator as quietly as possible, grabbing two Sprites and two apples and slipping them into the pockets of her robe. She turned and stealthily moved back across the kitchen, pleased with the silence of her mission until she slipped on the first step, falling forward onto the stairs with a muffled thump.

"Miles?" Robbie Ray said as he stood and turned to look over his shoulder. Seeing his daughter push herself up off of the floor, he hurried around and helped her up. "You okay, Miles?"

"Yeah," she said, more embarrassed than hurt. "Just slipped. Lilly was thirsty, and I'm pretty hungry still."

Robbie Ray smiled. "I'm still not used to that girl not bein' hungry," he said. He hugged his daughter suddenly, catching her off guard before she returned the hug. "She's awful lucky to have you takin' care of her," he said.

"I love her, Daddy," Miley said. "You know that. When she's not feeling good, it's my job to take care of her."

Robbie Ray rested his chin on top of Miley's head, glad she couldn't see the tears forming in his eyes. When he trusted his voice not to break, he said, "I know I've said this to you before, but I'm proud of the woman you've become, Miles."

Miley felt herself tearing up. "That's because of how you and Momma raised me."

"Not just 'cause of your mother and me, Miley. You've grown up a lot faster than I ever wanted you to, but you've made some very good choices along the way."

"Thanks, Daddy," Miley said. "I need to get back upstairs to Lilly, though. She's feeling better now." Left unsaid was exactly what had been responsible for the turnaround in Lilly's condition. "Night, Daddy," she said as she stepped around her father.

As she went up the steps, Miley froze as her father said, "Oh, Miles?"

"Yes, Daddy?"

"Next time you two decide to get all frisky, you might want to give me a bit a' warnin'. There are some things that a father just doesn't need to hear his little girl doin'."

Miley felt her face heat up as the blush filled her cheeks. She started to hurry on upstairs, but something made her stop. Without turning around, she said, "Sorry if we were too loud, Daddy, but Lilly _is_ my wife. We've always tried to be discrete when it comes to our sex life, but it's a wonderful, healthy part of our relationship." Steeling herself, she turned to look down at her father, her cheeks still furiously red. "Lilly has felt so bad the last few days, and she needed that." Miley swallowed, then she added, "Heck, _I_ needed that!" She lowered her voice. "But we're sorry if it made you uncomfortable. We weren't planning on things getting quite so--"

"Apology accepted!" Robbie Ray hastily said, forestalling any further details. He smiled, then he said, "Now go take care of your wife, and tell her I said good night."

"Thanks, Daddy," Miley said, the heat fading from her cheeks. "And good night. We love you."

"Love you two too."

Miley turned and hurried back up the stairs. As she walked back into the bedroom, she saw Lilly sit up, still under the bright rainbow comforter. "Sorry, Daddy wanted to talk."

Lilly smiled. "I heard some of it. You didn't get the door closed all the way." As Miley handed Lilly a Sprite, Lilly said, "Was it as uncomfortable as it sounded?" She opened the bottle and took a drink, savoring the cool feeling of the fizzy drink going down her throat, still slightly sore.

Miley opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again and said, "At first it was, but then I realized we don't need to be embarrassed to make love in our own house. I mean, I'm not planning on us screaming each other's names every night, but he needs to give us some space to be ourselves, too." Miley sat on the bed and took a bite out of one of the apples. She had washed them earlier and stored them in the refrigerator, so she knew they were clean.

Lilly set the soft drink down on the nightstand and lay back down. "I'm sorry I made you miss Ashley's Saint Patrick's Day party tonight, Miles."

"It's okay, Lilly, and I wouldn't have gone without you anyway."

"I know, but I was hoping maybe we could find out what's been going on with her lately. It's like something's been bothering her."

Miley finished her apple and tossed it into the trashcan beside the nightstand. "Yeah, Oliver's been really worried about her this week. She's acted plumb weird ever since she started seeing that Kyle guy back around Christmas, but she's really seemed spacey the last few days."

Lilly sighed as she stretched out then snuggled next to Miley. "Why did she ever go out with him to begin with? He's mean to her."

Miley kissed the top of Lilly's head as they settled into their usual sleeping positions, Miley on her back with Lilly curled up on her side, tonight on Miley's left, with her head resting on Miley's shoulder. Miley thought about Lilly's statement, and she had to agree with her wife.

Ashley DeWitt had definitely not been herself recently, and Miley blamed much of that on her parents' ongoing divorce. The more relaxed, friendly Ashley had suffered greatly at watching her family break apart, and through those painful changes she had begun acting more like the snotty, stuck-up Ashley again. Where she used to make a point to spend time with Miley, Lilly and Oliver, all of whom she had gotten to know over the last eighteen months, now all her free time was spent with her current boyfriend, Kyle Howell. Kyle had been a year ahead of Miley, Lilly and Ashley, but none of them had really known him well while they were at Seaview High School together. He and Ashley had met at a dinner party of Ashley's mother's shortly after Ashley's father had moved out.

Miley felt a pang of regret at Ashley's recent situation. Ashley and Oliver had dated for a brief period of time until Ashley's mother found out about it. She quickly put a stop to Ashley's dating "beneath her social status," as she so delicately put it, and Miley suspected that she had even gone so far as to arrange for Ashley to meet Kyle immediately afterward. Following their breakup, Ashley had found it difficult to spend time with Miley, Lilly and Oliver, even though the three of them tried very hard to not make her feel guilty or at fault.

Miley breathed in deeply and then blew it out, willing herself to let go of some of the stress she could feel building up. That sort of thing could wait until tomorrow, she thought. Saturday would be a good time to call Oliver and maybe go to the beach if Lilly felt like it. That might make all of them feel better. Miley closed her eyes and focused on Lilly's breathing, steady and even now, with no sign of congestion. Silently she said her prayers, as she knew Lilly had done a few minutes ago before she fell asleep. As soon as she was finished, sleep stole upon her and carried her off.

The ringing of a cell phone abruptly woke Miley from her sleep. "Who the devil..." she said as she fumbled for the phone resting on her nightstand. She felt Lilly stir against her chest as she finally grabbed the phone and flipped it open as she moved it to her right ear. "Hello?" she said in a half-whisper.

"_Miley?_" said Oliver's voice.

"Oliver?" Miley replied, astounded. She looked at the clock. "Oliver, it's three-thirty in the morning! What the sam hill is goin' on?"

"_Miles, I need you to come meet me at the hospital."_

Upon hearing those words, Miley felt sleep's grip on her rapidly fade. She sat up in the bed, triggering Lilly to stir grumpily as she tried to find where her warm Miley had gone. "Oliver, what's going on? Are you okay?" Miley felt fear creep into her voice as she began to mentally run through all the possible reasons Oliver would be calling her from the hospital in the middle of the night.

"_Yeah, I'm okay Miles. Well, I guess I am."_ There was a pause. _"It's Ashley, Miles. She tried--"_ Miley could hear Oliver struggle to keep his composure as he finally choked out, _"She tried to kill herself tonight."_

Miley felt her blood run cold. Instantly Lilly sat up, sleepily blinking her eyes. "What's wrong, Miles?" Lilly said, concern evident in her voice.

Miley looked down at her and said, "It's Oliver. Ashley tried to kill herself tonight. He's at the hospital now, I think." She heard herself say those things with a calm, detached voice, even though internally she was anything but calm and detached. She was only trying to sound controlled for Oliver's sake; the connection between her and Lilly was so deep that Lilly would already know just how shocked and upset Miley truly was.

Lilly flung the covers back and stood up, wobbling momentarily, then steadying herself by grabbing the nightstand. "Tell him we'll be right there," she said as she made her way to their dresser to grab some clothes for each of them.

**Author's Afterword:** This is a shorter chapter than usual for me, but it's the perfect place for a division between the first two chapters. Like I said in the Foreword, this story is already striking me as a bit more M-rated than my earlier ones. I'm not really sure why, other than that's the direction the story itself is wanting to go. I'm going to respect the story's wishes and run with it, so I suggest you just enjoy it. In fact, I'm pretty sure Miley and Lilly already are.

-- Jo --


	2. Chapter 2: Back From the Brink

**Author's Note: **Fast start to this story. For those who are sad that we didn't get a wedding scene between Jackson and Kaela, I do plan on writing one, either included as a flashback in this story or maybe as a standalone story. You know, as I type this, a standalone sounds really good. I think that's what I'll do, either between chapters of this story or immediately after this story is complete.

Here are my standard disclaimers: I make no claims on any of Disney's, Miley Cyrus', Emily Osment's or Hannah Montana's trademarks or copyrights, and no infringement is intended. Be forewarned that this story most certainly will contain femslash. If love and affection between two consenting young adults of the same sex bothers you, I suggest you turn right around and find something else to read. Keep any flames to yourself and remember that what our world needs now is more love and acceptance, not more hate. Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated!

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 2: Back From the Brink

_Somewhere just between the past_

_And something dawning new_

_There's a break in the chain_

_A skip in the clock_

_Girl, that's where I'm gonna find you_

_Between the boy I was before_

_And what I'm gonna be_

_There's a clash on the border_

_A flame in the sky_

_Girl, that's where you're gonna find me_

_--_Meatloaf"Modern Girl"

Less than ten minutes later, Miley and Lilly were on the way to the hospital. They had each thrown on a sweatshirt and sweatpants and stuffed their hair up under a cap, U.T. Lady Vols Softball for Lilly and a Tennessee Titans one for Miley. As they hurried along the empty streets, Miley was careful to not go _too_ much above the speed limit, but she tried to hurry as much as possible.

"What did she do? Did Oliver say?" Lilly asked, still not convinced that she wasn't in a bad dream just yet.

Miley shook her head. "Didn't say. He just said that he was in the E.R.'s waiting room and that he'd tell us when we got there."

The girls were driving with the windows cracked slightly; the morning chill felt good to Miley as she tried to focus on the road, but she was afraid to create too much of a chill for Lilly. The nearly silent obsidian Tesla Roadster swam through the inky darkness of the early morning, leaving almost no trace of its passing to anyone watching. After just under six minutes, Miley parked the Roadster in the parking lot of Malibu Hospital. She and Lilly popped their seat belts and climbed out of the car, locking the doors as they hurried to the entrance.

Good as his word, Oliver was waiting for them right inside the doors. As his two best friends rushed through the groaning automatic doors, Oliver jumped up and met them in the middle of the lobby. Instantly Miley and Lilly enfolded him in a double hug, both whispering their support and concern for him for a long minute as they just held him. Being eighteen, Oliver didn't cry for much of anything now, but at that moment his tears fell freely before being soaked up by the soft fabric of Miley's and Lilly's sweatshirts. When the girls pulled back, Lilly reached up and wiped away his tears with her sleeve. "You think you can tell us what happened?" she asked gently as she and Miley led him back over to where he had been sitting against the wall.

Oliver nodded his head as he wiped his eyes. "At the party, she was really weird, like she was distracted. No, more like she was on something. Then she and Kyle got into this huge fight. He called her..." Oliver paused, then said, "Well, he called her some really ugly things, then he said he was done with her because he had pretty much gotten what he wanted from her."

"Asshole," Miley said softly. When Oliver looked at her, she quickly said, "Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt."

Oliver smiled weakly and said, "No, you're right. He is an asshole. But then he left, and Ash threw everybody out, saying the party was over. I tried to ask her if she wanted to talk, but her mom went out of her way to make sure I found the door."

"Bitch," Lilly muttered, then she quickly added, "Oops! Sorry."

This time when Oliver looked at her, he was already smiling slightly. "You're right too. So I went home. I tried to call Ash, but she had her phone turned off. I guess this was about eleven, maybe eleven-thirty. I finally gave up trying to call her and went to bed. Around three, my phone rings. I pick it up, and it's Ash. She had been crying—I could tell because of how rough her voice sounded—and she said that she was so tired of hurting others and hurting herself that she just wanted it all to stop. She started crying and then she asked me to forgive her for what she had done. I asked her what she done, and she said she had taken a bottle of her mom's pills and drunk some gin that her dad had left when he moved out. I tried to talk to her, but she just kinda faded out after she said that. The last thing she said was that she was sorry she had hurt me like she did."

Lilly and Miley once again double hugged Oliver, letting him cry a bit longer in peace. Lilly whispered, "Oliver, I bet she's going to be okay. Did she call an ambulance after she did it?"

Oliver shook his head. "No, I called the ambulance. I told them where she was and what had happened, then I hurried out there. I got there in time to see them loading her up, but her mom rode on the ambulance with her, so I had to follow them here in my truck."

"Have you heard anything about her since you got here?" Miley asked.

"Just that she's alive and they're still working with her. I tried to get back there twice, but her mom caught me both times and told the nurses to keep me out of the room."

Even sick, Lilly was furious. When she looked at her wife, she could tell that Miley was ready to blow as well. "You're going to get back there to see her somehow," Lilly said, her voice hard with determination.

As Lilly finished, a door in front of them opened, and a nurse said, "Is there an Oliver Oken here?"

The three of them jumped up and hurried to the nurse. "I'm Oliver Oken," Oliver said. "Is she okay?"

The nurse smiled and said, "She's waking up. It looks like she's going to be okay, but the doctor will have to talk to all of you about that. Right now, she's asking for you."

"I'm surprised her mom didn't raise hell about that," Oliver said darkly.

The nurse rolled her eyes and said, "Well, we sort of sent her mother to the restroom on the far side of the ER. It'll take her a few minutes to get down there and come back."

Miley and Lilly both laughed lightly at that. "Looks like you're getting to know her too," Miley said.

"No comment," said the nurse, but her smile offered plenty of comment by itself. "We're only supposed to let two visitors back at a time." She looked at how the girls were trying to support Oliver, then she sighed and added, "However, our patient said that there would probably be two young ladies about her age out here too and to bring them back with you if they were. Just don't take too long, because she'll be going to a room as soon as one's available," before she opened the door wider to let all three of them in.

The nurse led the way down a hallway lined with empty stretchers, all made up and ready to support any patients that arrived. She told the three of them, "It doesn't look like the medicine she took was enough to do any real damage, but the doctor gave her some activated charcoal anyway. We'll have to watch her closely at least for today." After passing the nurses' station, she stopped at a room directly across from the station, with a direct view into the room. As she stopped, Oliver hurried into the room, Miley and Lilly hot on his heels.

"Ashley!" Oliver said as he crossed the room to the stretcher where Ashley lay. She had tubing running under her nose delivering oxygen via a nasal cannula, and Oliver could see traces of a black substance in the corners of her mouth, but what held his attention more than anything were Ashley's eyes: deep, dark and brimming with tears.

"I'm so sorry," Ashley said weakly as he reached her side and took her left hand. "Careful," she said, "they've got the IV in that hand."

Oliver looked down and made sure he wasn't pushing or tugging on it, then he carefully closed his hand over hers. "You're going to be okay, Ash," he said. "I was really worried about you." It was a struggle not to break down and cry, but Oliver managed to keep the tears in his eyes from escaping and running down his cheeks. "Okay, you scared the shit out me."

Ashley closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. "I don't even know why I did it. I just remember feeling like everyone hated me and that I had driven Mom and Dad apart, I had hurt you, I couldn't make Kyle happy, I couldn't make my mom happy..." Her own tears trickled down her cheeks as she swallowed and said, "I couldn't make myself happy. So I figured that I might as well just die so everyone else could get on with their lives and be happy again."

Oliver shook his head. "But we wouldn't have been happy, Ash. No one would have been. I want you alive, I want you _living_ again." He stopped for a minute and gently reached forward, wiping her tears away with his thumb. "I love you, Ash. I never stopped loving you."

Ashley reached forward with her right arm, tugging Oliver forward until he was leaning forward enough for her to hug him with her right arm. "Well, I love you, Oliver. And it was when I had taken Mom's pills and drank that gin of Dad's, when I was feeling like I was completely worthless and that no one loved me, I realized that you still cared about me, even after I broke your heart."

"You better believe it," Oliver said, smiling weakly.

"That was why I called you," Ashley said. Her voice was getting dry, and Oliver found a glass of ice water on the rolling table next to her bed. He handed it to her, letting her take a drink. "Thanks," she said once she was finished.

"You're welcome."

"And then when I called you, I felt so ashamed. I mean, it was like when you're a kid and you throw a temper fit but then you realize just how silly it looks. Well, it felt a thousand times worse than that. I knew I had made a huge mistake, but then I blacked out."

"I called 911 after you quit talking," Oliver said. "I made it over to your house while they were loading you up, but your mom wouldn't let me ride with you."

"God, tell me about it," Ashley groaned. "I woke up about fifteen minutes ago, but I had to wait for her to go to the bathroom so I could tell one of the nurses to get you." She smiled. "I knew you'd be waiting out there." She looked past Oliver, seeing Miley and Lilly now. They were quietly standing at the edge of the room, not wanting to intrude on a very private conversation. "And I figured you two would be out there with him," Ashley said, a little louder so Miley and Lilly would hear.

When Ashley spoke to them and smiled, the two young women walked over to the bed, standing on the other side so as not to crowd Oliver. "I'm not getting too close to you," Lilly said. "I don't think I'm contagious now, but you sure don't want what I've had this week."

"I appreciate that, Lilly," Ashley said, a smile crossing her face quickly. "Thank you, both of you, for being here. "He needs you right now," nodding toward Oliver quickly.

"Actually," Miley said, "he needs _you _right now."

"I need all of you," Oliver corrected. "We're stronger together than we are apart."

"I'm definitely stronger with you than I am without you," Ashley said, giving Oliver a smile. "And I promise I'll never do anything like this ever again."

As Oliver leaned down to gently kiss Ashley, a harsh voice from the doorway loudly said, "What the hell are all of you doing back here?" Oliver, Miley and Lilly turned to see Ashley's mother standing in the doorway. She was tall for an Asian woman, standing as tall as Miley and nearly as tall as Oliver. Even though her age was starting to show, her features were still beautiful. Beautiful, that is, except for the look of outrage on her face. She looked at Ashley first, then at Miley and Lilly. "You two disgust me," she said caustically. "Where I grew up, there is no word for what you are. You would be beaten until you learned that man and woman are supposed to be together."

"Well, if you're the big expert on marriage, where's your husband these days?" Miley said angrily, returning Ms. DeWitt's glare with a Look of her own.

Ashley's mother pointedly turned her head away from the girls and focused on Oliver. She fixed him with a glare at least twenty degrees colder than the one she gave Miley and Lilly, then she said, "I want you out of this room. NOW."

Oliver continued to hold Ashley's hand as he said, "You interrupted something." He turned back to Ashley and kissed her softly, then he stood, turned to Ashley's mother and said, "No. I'm not going anywhere."

Ashley's mother strode forward until Ashley moved her head to one side, raised her right arm to gesture for her mother to stop, and shouted, "No!" Her mother halted in her tracks, then she said something in a language that Oliver, Miley and Lilly didn't recognize. Ashley grimaced and said, "Talk in whatever language you want, Mother, they're not leaving."

"They are filled with demons," Ms. DeWitt said, waving her left arm at Miley and Lilly, "and he is beneath you! He is only interested in our money," pointing to Oliver as she finished.

"You are _so_ wrong," Oliver said heatedly. He had to struggle to not lose his temper, but he knew he had to stay calm for Ashley's sake. "I love your daughter, Ms. DeWitt, and that would be true whether she was rich or poor. Can't you remember what it felt like to love someone that strongly?"

"What I feel about love is not the point here!"

"That's right!" Miley said, cutting her off. "What _they_ feel about love is! They love each other, and if you really care about your daughter then you'd be there to support her, not drive away who she really cares about!"

"You stay out of this, lesbian," Ms. DeWitt hissed, turning to glare at Miley.

"My name is _Miley_," Miley said, "and you're right, I _am_ a lesbian. Wanna insult my hair too? Or how about my clothes?"

Jumping in during the brief pause in shouting, Lilly said, "Ms. DeWitt, Ashley is eighteen. She's not a minor anymore. If she wants us to be in here, you can't throw us out."

"Oh, you want her to throw _me_ out?" Ashley's mother said, her voice rising.

"No," Lilly said. "You're her mother, and you have every right to be here too. But you need to quit upsetting your daughter." Lilly held her left arm out, palm open and upturned as she pointed at Ashley and said, "Ashley is here because she tried to kill herself tonight! Why can't you see that her life has been turned upside down over these last few months, and all you've done is make it worse?" She nearly added _Are you too stupid to see that?_, but she decided the situation was bad enough without stirring it up further.

"Lilly's right," Miley said. "All this bickerin' isn't helping Ashley." She took Lilly's right hand in her left one, drawing a quick glance from Ms. DeWitt, and said, "What she needs is to rest for now, and then you and your daughter need to sort some things out."

Oliver looked down at Ashley's worried expression and said, "I'm not going anywhere, Ash. I made a mistake when I didn't fight to keep you after you broke up with me. I thought that if I really loved you, I should let you be with Kyle if that's what you really wanted." He smiled as she shook her head. "I know now. I should have fought to keep you, to not let him hurt you. I won't make that mistake again. I love you, and one day I plan on marrying you and giving you all the happiness I can."

Ashley started to cry, but she smiled through her tears. "I love you too, Ollie," she said. "And I want you with me." She turned to look at her mother and said, "Oliver is my boyfriend, Mother. I was wrong to ever break up with him, and you were wrong to tell me to. And Miley and Lilly are my friends, even though I used to be such a bitch to them." She glanced quickly at the two of them and gave them a smile, then she turned back to her mother. "You could learn a lot about love and kindness from them, Mother. They care more about each other than any couple I've ever seen. EVER. The two of them are welcome anywhere I am."

Ms. DeWitt stared at her daughter, her face quivering with rage. "They are not welcome in my house, and neither is he."

Ashley sat up a bit straighter and returned her mother's glare. "It's only half your house. Daddy gave his half to me, remember?"

"What are you talking about?" her mother said, her expression now more one of uncertainly than fury.

The smile on Ashley's face was anything but warm as she carefully said, "If I give my half of the house back to Daddy, then it becomes a joint marital asset again. That means it'll have to be sold to split its value equally between the two of you."

"You would throw us out of our own house?" Ms. DeWitt practically shouted. "What kind of daughter would do that to her own mother?"

"_Your_ daughter," Ashley said coldly. "You taught me well, Mother."

The silence in the room was nearly tangible as everyone pondered what was suddenly at stake. After long, long seconds, Ashley's mother turned and walked out of the room. Miley and Lilly started breathing again, and Oliver looked down at Ashley and said, "Isn't that taking it a bit too far? I mean, where would you live?"

Lilly quickly said, "There's an empty bedroom at my parents' house. All made up, cleaned up and ready to be used."

"That'd be one heck of a surprise for your parents," Miley said to her wife, her voice a bit dubious.

"I could talk 'em into it," Lilly said confidently.

"Yeah, you probably could," Oliver said, laughing. "Will you two stay with Ash for just a minute? I need to go do something."

"Where are you going?" Ashley asked.

"To talk to your mom."

"Ollie, that's not a good idea right now."

Oliver smiled and said, "Hey, I won you over, didn't I?" He flipped the collar on his shirt and said, "Time to break out the ol' Smokin' Oken charm."

All three women in the room laughed at that. Ashley reached and got a handful of Oliver's shirt, gently tugging him down toward her so she could give him a longer kiss. As they broke the kiss, she said, "Don't let her talk to you in anything but English. Just keep staring at her if she starts switching languages. She does that when she knows she's losing the argument."

"Okay." Oliver smiled and left the room.

Miley and Lilly walked back over to Ashley's side. "You going to be okay tonight, Ashley?" Miley asked. Miley took Ashley's right hand, and Lilly covered both girls' hands with her own.

"Yeah," Ashley said with a smile. "I think I'm going to be okay. Eventually." Her eyes started to water, and she discretely looked away.

"He really loves you," Lilly added.

Ashley nodded, unable to speak.

"Now you need to love yourself," Miley said. "It's not hard to do once you try."

Ashley looked at the two again. "How did you two know? I mean, that you were in love."

Miley and Lilly looked at each other, and a small grin was shared by the two of them. "Well," Lilly started, "I knew I was in love with her when I realized that every time I talked to her or saw her coming to me, my heart started being really fast and I got nervous."

Miley said, "When I realized how lonely I felt without you."

"When I started to get jealous every time some boy would look at you and you'd look back."

"When I felt my heart skip a beat every time you hugged me."

"When I started having dreams about being with you."

"When I started having nightmares about being separated from you." Miley stopped with that sentence, as it threatened to bring up painful memories of those sleepless nights.

Lilly released Miley's hand and turned to Miley, hugging her tightly. "Never again, Miles," she said. She squeezed her eyes tightly to keep any tears from leaking out as she held the woman she cherished as close as she could.

When they loosened their grip on each other, Miley looked into Lilly's eyes and said, "Do you know how great that makes me feel? Knowing that you're always here for me?"

Lilly smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I think I do."

Ashley's voice reminded Lilly and Miley that a world still existed around them. "Wow," she said softly. "I am so jealous of you two. I want that kind of love for me."

Miley looked over Lilly's shoulder at Ashley and replied, "You just might get it, Ashley. Oliver's a good man."

"Man?" Lilly said, some disbelief in her voice. "He just started shaving this year."

"You know what I mean!" Miley said to Ashley, trying not to laugh at Lilly's observation. She turned to look back at Lilly and said, "Slower to mature, remember?"

Lilly grinned, this time a big Lilly grin she reserved just for Miley. "That's for sure!" she said. "I never did think that lunkhead would finally figure out he needed to get Ashley back."

"Boys," Miley said. "Might as well shake out their brains and put some birdseed up there."

As the three young women laughed, Oliver came back into the room. "Are you three laughing at my expense?" he said.

"Oh no," Lilly said. "Us laughing at you doesn't cost you a thing, Oliver."

Oliver smiled as he walked back over and hugged Miley and Lilly both. "Thank you. Both of you. I called you in the middle of the night because I needed you, and you came."

"That's what friends do," Miley and Lilly said simultaneously. They smiled at each other, then they turned to look back at Ashley. "If you need us, Ashley, call us," Miley said. "Seriously, any time."

Ashley nodded and smiled at them. "I will."

As Miley and Lilly turned back to Oliver, Miley said, "Let us know if we can do anything for you."

Oliver smiled in return and said, "You already have. Now you have a wife who's getting over being sick. She needs to be home in bed."

Lilly elbowed Miley's left arm. "Yeah. I'm sick," she said.

Miley looked down and fought to keep from grinning. For about two seconds. Then she sputtered with laughter, inadvertently spraying Lilly slightly.

"Eww!" Lilly said as she started wiping the spittle off her face.

"Sorry!" Miley said, sheepishly trying to help Lilly wipe her face off. "Sorry, Lil."

"I didn't need Miley slobber on me!" Lilly said.

Miley stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow at Lilly. "I seem to recall putting my slobber on you before. Many times before. Usually while you were screaming--"

Lilly silenced Miley by covering her mouth with her right hand. "Okay, point taken!" she said quickly. She smiled politely at Ashley and Oliver, who had moved over to hold Ashley's hand. "She tends to run off at the mouth sometimes." Miley mumbled something under Lilly's hand, causing Lilly to look back at her and say, "Shush!" Miley rolled her eyes but remained silent. "No more embarrassing me?" Lilly asked. Miley shook her head no. "Okay, good." She removed her hand from Miley's mouth.

"Thank you," Miley said dramatically. She turned to look back at Oliver and Ashley. "Call us if you need us."

"We will," Ashley said. "But I think things'll be okay as long as Oliver's with me." She leaned against him as she smiled and waved goodbye.

Miley put her arm around Lilly as the two of them left the hospital room. On their way out they saw that Ashley's mother was standing just outside the door, leaning against the wall. She looked at the two of them but didn't speak, so Miley and Lilly responded in kind. As they walked outside, the cool of the early morning air made Lilly shiver slightly. "I'll get the heater on as soon as we get in the car, Lilly Bear."

Lilly nodded, leaning more into Miley's warm embrace. Getting home and back into bed was going to feel _so_ good.

The rest of the weekend went smoothly. After resting, Miley and Lilly checked on Ashley and Oliver, who didn't leave the hospital until Ashley was discharged Sunday evening. Ashley insisted on Oliver driving her to her house, infuriating her mother. The truce between her and Oliver remained fragile, and both of them stayed on edge when around the other. Oliver finally made it to his house Sunday night, where he simply collapsed after checking in with Miley and Lilly.

When Monday morning rolled around, Lilly was feeling much better, so she and Miley both were in their Roadster when they pulled into the school parking lot. As they got their backpacks out, they saw Oliver and Ashley drive in and park beside them. Ashley was driving her emerald green Mercedes Kompresser, but she parked in Oliver's parking place right beside Miley and Lilly.

"Hey," Miley said as they got out of their car.

"Good morning!" Lilly said, her voice full of cheer.

"What's your deal, Lilly?" Oliver asked. "You seem awful happy this morning."

Lilly smiled. "I am! I'm feeling better, you two are back together, and I had the most beautiful woman in the world make love to me last night."

"Thank you, sweetheart," Miley said, kissing Lilly on the cheek.

"Twice last night, actually."

"Lilly..."

"And once this morning in the shower."

"Lilly." Miley positioned herself between Lilly and the others. "She's so funny!" Miley said, hoping a big smile would hide her blushing. Suddenly Miley jumped forward. "Whoa!" She turned and looked behind her to see Lilly's hand still grabbing her butt through her jeans.

"I couldn't help it," Lilly said. "Your butt's just too perfect."

Ashley finally looked at Oliver. "Is it my imagination or are they even hornier now than they were before they got married?"

Oliver pondered that question while Miley and Lilly playfully tried to grab each other's butt. "I think they are," he finally concluded. "Hey! Sex fiends!" That got Miley and Lilly to stop, both of them now looking at Oliver and Ashley. "We do have school, you know. And while I love you two, it's not really my dream to see the two of you screw out here in the parking lot."

Lilly sighed dramatically. "I suppose we could wait," she said, her voice low and slow as she looked at Miley.

Miley took the cue and said, "Fine," doing her best pout as she took Lilly's hand and they started walking to the school.

"I think you hurt their feelings, Ollie," Ashley whispered as they started walking, several steps behind Miley and Lilly.

Oliver shook his head. "They're just acting like they're pouting," he said in a normal voice.

"Am not!" Miley called over her shoulder.

"Are too!" Oliver replied, getting laughs from both girls ahead of him.

School went very smoothly. A few people commented on how affectionate Oliver and Ashley acted around each other, but no one said anything about the party Friday night, much less Ashley's suicide attempt. It appeared that particular piece of news had thankfully not made it to the school. After school was over, Ashley and Oliver went over to Miley's and Lilly's house for dinner. Miley thought it would be a good idea for them to talk about things, and she had called her father and made sure he found something to do for part of the evening.

As Miley pulled the baked lemon basil chicken out of the oven, Lilly finished setting the places on the kitchen island. "We're so glad you came over to eat dinner with us," Lilly said. "It's nice to have company."

"Yeah, not having Jackson here is still kinda weird," Miley added.

"When do he and Kaela go on spring break?" asked Oliver.

"This week, actually, and the next week," Miley answered. "They're flying back here tomorrow."

"I can't wait to see them!" Lilly said. "Wonder if he'll be mad we had to fumigate and disinfect his room?"

"Uhh, he better be glad we didn't _burn_ his room," Miley deadpanned, drawing laughs from Oliver and Ashley. "Seriously, it was a disaster zone! Like that funky granola bar." She and Lilly both shuddered.

"What was wrong with the granola bar?" asked Ashley.

Miley and Lilly both looked at her. Miley said, "It started out as a brick of cheese he had carried up to his room." Lilly stuck her tongue out and turned away, shivering again as Ashley covered her mouth with her hand and Miley said, "Nasty, I tell ya."

"Okay, get your plates!" Lilly said. Ashley and Oliver stood up and walked over to the counter, where Lilly and Miley had laid out four plates with pieces of the chicken, stuffing and gravy. Oliver smiled and reached for a plate with a particularly large piece of chicken on it, only to jerk his hand back when stinging pain shot up his wrist, accompanied with a loud _thwack_. "Back off, Oken," said Lilly, waving a wooden spoon at him. "That one's mine."

"Don't get between Lilly and her food," Miley said to Ashley.

"Or between me and my Miley," Lilly happily added. She handed Miley a plate. "Here you go, hon."

"Thanks," Miley said, getting a drink and taking her seat.

Dinner proved very therapeutic for Ashley and Oliver and enlightening for everyone. Miley, Lilly and Oliver took turns telling one story after another regarding the three of them, usually leaving Ashley laughing at their escapades. As they were cleaning up, Ashley asked Lilly, "How do you two do it?"

"Do what?' Lilly asked, loading plates in the dishwasher. She looked up. "You mean... do IT?"

"No no no!" Ashley said hurriedly. "I mean, act like you've been together forever." She turned to look at Miley and Oliver, fighting over the remote on the couch. "It's like you two were made for each other."

"We were," Lilly said matter-of-factly. "We were lucky to find each other as fast as we did. Saved us a lot of heartache once we finally figured it out." She closed the dishwasher and started its cycle.

Ashley seemed nervous, fidgeting a bit before she asked, "How did you know that Miley was... your One? I mean, besides the dreaming and all that. Was it the way she kissed you? Or was it something she said to you, something that just made it all so clear?"

Lilly smiled as she started washing her hands. "Well, Miley told me that her parents had told her a long time ago that she'd know she had found the person right for her by a spark that she'd feel when they kissed. And the morning after we, you know, made love for the first time, she told me that when we kissed that night before, she felt the spark, exactly like her parents had told her." Ashley went fixed on Lilly's face, listening raptly to each word. "For me, well, I had been pretty sure for a while before that night. But that night, we were in her bed, getting ready to go to sleep, and all I could think about was how beautiful she was. She was looking back at me, and the moonlight coming through her window made her eyes almost glow." She felt herself tear up slightly and took a minute to calm herself. "Sorry. Don't want to scare Miley. She'll know if I'm upset."

Ashley looked at Lilly incredulously, but before she could speak Miley's voice called out from the living room. "You okay, Lilly?"

Lilly winked at Ashley, then she said, "Yeah, just talking some girl talk. About when we started dating. It's okay, Miles." She looked back at Ashley, whose mouth was slightly open. "See what I mean?" she said with a smile.

"How did she know that?"

"We just... kinda know. We always have, ever since that night." She picked up a kitchen towel and wiped down the counter top as she continued talking. "Anyway, when I was looking into her eyes--" She stopped abruptly. "Oh my gosh, this is gonna sound so corny that you'll laugh at it."

"I won't, I promise."

Lilly looked over at Miley, then she looked back at Ashley with a look of peace on her face. "When I looked in her eyes, I saw my future. My future with her. And I knew I could never be happy, never be content, never be fulfilled unless I was with her. So I leaned in and kissed her."

Ashley looked at Lilly in silence for a few seconds before she finally uttered, "Wow. That is, like-- Just... wow."

"Why are you asking?" said Lilly, poking Ashley in the shoulder. "You got someone you wanting to put to the test?"

Ashley grinned at Lilly's deduction. "Sorta."

"Ashley, whether Oliver is your One is something the two of you have to figure out on your own. But I _can_ tell you that he's crazy about you. Since you broke up with him, he hasn't gone out with anyone else. Well, except for Miley and me, but that's just as friends." She smiled at Ashley. "Ashley, he loves you. I've known him for a long, long time, and I've never seen him as crazy over anyone else." Lilly frowned. "Well, maybe Hannah Montana, back when she first started. But then, who wasn't crazy about her?"

Ashley nodded. "Yeah, she's so amazing. Amber wanted so badly to be like her."

"You ever hear from her?" Lilly asked as they started to walk over to the living room.

Ashley shook her head. "Nope, and I don't ever want to. She turned me into someone I hated, someone who couldn't think for herself."

"Glad you finally realized that," Lilly said as they reached the couch.

Ashley sat next to Oliver and patted his knee. "You need to take me home, Ollie. It's getting late."

Miley looked at the clock and whistled. It was past nine, close to nine-thirty. "What time's your mom want you home?"

"Ten on school nights," Ashley answered. "Which is why Ollie has to get me there quick." She walked back over to Miley and Lilly and hugged each of them in turn. "Thanks, you two. This has been lots of fun! And Lilly, thanks for talking with me."

"Any time, Ashley," Lilly said. When Miley turned to look at her, Lilly gave her a quick glance and a smile that clearly indicated they could talk about it later. She and Miley walked Oliver and Ashley to the door, waving good night as they walked outside to their truck. Once the truck was started and they began backing out, Lilly closed the door and turned to lean against it. "We have the house to ourselves for a few minutes," she said with a sly grin.

"Got somethin' you're wantin' to do?" Miley asked, hands on her hips and an eyebrow raised in a way she knew Lilly found irresistible. She turned and stretched, leaning slightly forward as she did so to stick her butt out toward Lilly. As she felt Lilly's warm hand between her legs, Miley closed her eyes and smiled as she leaned back against her wife. Lilly began rubbing Miley through her jeans, making Miley squirm with delight. Miley turned and grabbed Lilly's head with both hands, kissing her intensely. As Lilly repositioned her hand where it had been, Miley whispered, "Don't you want to be doin' that _without_ these pants on?"

Lilly kissed Miley again as she said, "Oh yeah."

"Come on, then," Miley said as she took Lilly by the hand and led her up the stairs to their bedroom. As they went into their bedroom and closed the door, Miley guided Lilly to the bed and then lightly pushed her down onto it. As she stepped out of her jeans, she saw Lilly was also shedding clothes quickly. In seconds they were both naked as Miley fell into Lilly's arms, wrapping herself around her wife.

Twenty minutes later, they lay spent but fulfilled, Miley resting her head on Lilly's chest as they waited for their breathing to return to normal. "I'm glad you're feelin' better," Miley purred as Lilly ran her fingers through her hair.

"I am feeling _much_ better," Lilly said as she put a kiss on top of Miley's head. "But now your wife needs her rest, and you need to rest too."

Miley closed her eyes, knowing that Lilly spoke the truth. They still had so much to do in the next few weeks, with Jackson and Kaela coming to visit, Hannah's next CD coming out soon, and the Senior Prom at the end of the month. Then it would be the senior trip to Washington, D.C., and then, finally, graduation. "It's going to be a busy spring, huh?" Miley said.

Lilly smiled as she felt Miley's lips moving and the heat of her warm breath on her collarbone. "It sure is, Miley. It sure is."

**Author's Afterword:** Wow, the second chapter is done! Hopefully this one will reassure those of you who were concerned about Ashley, although her mom might still cause some trouble for her and Oliver. Ashley still has some issues she has to work out, but it looks like she's got more in life to hang onto than she had realized. Sometimes all it takes is just one small thing to make you realize that no matter how bad life may seem, the people who care about you would be heartbroken that you're gone. I've lost three friends to suicide over the years, and the pain never goes completely away. If you're ever at that point, call a friend, talk to someone who loves you, do whatever it takes to make yourself realize that life still has some happiness in it and that things _will_ get better.

And don't worry, some of the chapters are going to be more explicit than others. This one wanted to be a bit more demure, and I just write 'em like they tell me to. Next chapter as soon as I can get it done, I promise, but it may take a week or two. See you soon!

-- Jo --


	3. Chapter 3: Dressed For the Occasion

**Author's Note: **I've spent the last few days moving, and I won't have Internet access for about a week once I pack up my computer. I'll still be working on the next chapters, but I won't be able to follow any other stories until I can get back online. Well, unless I sneak and catch up on them at work. Hope everyone is still enjoying the story; I'll be back online as soon as I possibly can!

Here are my standard disclaimers: I make no claims on any of Disney's, Miley Cyrus', Emily Osment's or Hannah Montana's trademarks or copyrights, and no infringement is intended. Be forewarned that this story most certainly will contain femslash. If love and affection between two consenting young adults of the same sex bothers you, I suggest you turn right around and find something else to read. Keep any flames to yourself and remember that what our world needs now is more love and acceptance, not more hate. Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated!

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 3: Dressed For the Occasion

_Like a phoenix rising needs a holy tree_

_Like the sweet revenge of a bitter enemy_

_I need your love_

_Like hot needs the sun_

_Like honey on her tongue_

_Like the muzzle of a gun_

_Like oxygen_

_I need your love_

U2;"Hawkmoon 269"

When school let out the next day, Miley and Lilly raced home. Miley's brother Jackson and his wife Kaela were flying in from Knoxville that afternoon, and Miley and Lilly were both looking forward to seeing the two of them again. As Lilly turned into the driveway, they saw Robbie Ray, Jackson and Kaela starting to unload suitcases from the rear of Robbie Ray's Suburban. Lilly grinned and pressed the accelerator, darting up the driveway toward the three of them.

When Kaela glanced up and saw the glossy black car moving at them swiftly but almost silently, she shrieked and ran behind Jackson. Lilly hit the brakes, stopping well short of the three of them, waving cheekily at Kaela. She put the car in Park and killed the ignition, then she and Miley jumped out of the car and ran up the driveway, meeting Kaela in a large group hug.

The three of them squealed happily for a few seconds before Kaela leaned back and said, "That was mean! You coulda hit me!"

Lilly cackled and said, "Nope, I had plenty of time to stop. We've had this car over two years now; I've got a pretty good idea of what it can and can't do." She then stepped back, looked at Kaela and whistled.

Even while she was still in high school, Kaela was gorgeous. She stood just over six feet tall and still carried the toned, lean build of a runner. Her fiery red hair had been cut shorter than Miley and Lilly remembered, but her ponytail was still long enough to hang below her shoulders.

"Kae, your hair looks great!" Miley said. She glanced at her brother, then said in a quieter voice, "What did Jackson think?"

Kaela grinned and said, "Well, he wasn't happy at first, but then I put it into pigtails one night for him as a special surprise. Let me tell you, _that_ turned him on."

"Pigtails, huh?" Lilly said, looking at Miley. She turned back to Kaela and said, "They excited him that much?" Kaela nodded her head, still grinning. "Maybe I should try that one night," Lilly said, winking at Miley.

Miley felt herself starting to sweat along her back and neck, so she cleared her throat and said, "We cleaned Jackson's old room for you two to stay in." She started walking up the driveway toward her brother when she felt Lilly's fingers gently running up and down her back. She looked back at her wife, who had caught up with her. Out of the side of her mouth, Miley whispered, "We could try the pigtails thing one night. You know, if you want."

Lilly laughed and grabbed Miley's hand. "Miley Truscott, you are a very bad girl!" she said playfully as they approached Jackson, coming back out for another load of luggage.

"What's my sister done now?" Jackson said as he gave Miley and Lilly a joint hug.

"More like what she's _going_ to be doing," Lilly said with a wicked grin. "Tonight."

"Not what, _who!_" Miley said suddenly, poking Lilly in the stomach and ribs. As Lilly squirmed to try and cover her ticklish parts, Miley got behind her and wrapped Lilly up in her arms, finally stopping the tickling as she held Lilly.

Lilly gently stroked what she could reach of Miley's arms with her fingertips. "You caught me. Now you have to keep me," she said with a pleased smile.

"You two haven't changed a bit," Kaela said as she walked over to Jackson and put her arms around his neck and gave him a warm kiss as well. "Your brother, on the other hand..."

"Oh no," Miley said. "What's he done?"

"He's learned to cook!" Kaela said, looking rather pleased with herself. "And do laundry."

"I could do laundry before," Jackson said as he held Kaela.

"Um, do laundry without ruining anything, dear," Kaela clarified. "It was that last part you had trouble with, remember?"

"This is about your panties that time, isn't it?"

Kaela laughed, then she turned and grabbed the last bag. "Why Jackson, whatever makes you say that?" she said as she walked by him to go into the house.

Miley released Lilly from her grasp, then she said to her brother, "It must have been bad, huh?" with a grimace.

Jackson just nodded, watching his wife walk into the house. "You could say that. At least she got a bunch of new bras and panties out of it."

"Nice to know that some things don't change," Miley said with a smile. "I'm going to go pull the car in the garage," she said to Lilly, who nodded as she grabbed the backpacks. However, Jackson took them away from her and carried them in himself. "Thanks, Jackson," Lilly said, surprised at his thoughtfulness.

"No problem, sis," Jackson said. "Anyway, Kaela said that you had been sick and that if I didn't be nice to you she'd make me regret it for a long time."

"Well, still, thanks," Lilly said, trying not to laugh as they walked inside. _Jackson is __so__ whipped. _She went over to the refrigerator and got her and Miley's favorite juice out, a mixture of orange, pineapple and apple juice. She quickly poured two glasses before Miley came in from the garage.

"Okay, hon, Stella's all plugged in!" Miley said loudly, before she was surprised by Lilly handing her a glass of juice. "Oh, yum! Thanks hon," Miley said, giving Lilly a quick kiss for thanks.

"You're welcome," Lilly said. "Now let's get upstairs and hear all the good stuff from our sister-in-law!" Grinning, she and Miley rushed up the stairs, leaving Jackson in the dust. As they thundered up the stairs, they passed Robbie Ray on his way down the stairs.

"Lands' sakes," he muttered as he reached the ground floor. "They get wilder every day." He walked over to the kitchen, where he saw Jackson fixing himself a snack from the refrigerator. "Well, don't this bring back memories," he said with a smile on his face.

Jackson turned around and looked at his dad. "Looks like you caught me," he said as he closed the refrigerator door and picked up the plate of ham. However, rather than moving over to the couch, he set the plate down on the kitchen island. "I missed you, Dad," he said, walking over and hugging his father.

"Missed you too, boy," Robbie Ray said as he patted his son on the back. "I missed you too."

The rest of the evening was spent catching up with family, as Jackson and Robbie Ray talked at length about everything they could think of. Upstairs, Miley, Lilly and Kaela swapped stories as fast as they could relay them. Kaela filled the girls in on what was happening back in Tennessee, while Miley and Lilly told Kaela about what was going on with Ashley and Oliver, much to Kaela's surprise. The hours slipped by rapidly until everyone was yawning, ready for bed.

The girls' reunion was cut short when Jackson knocked on the door to Miley and Lilly's bedroom. "Do you have my wife captive in there?" he asked.

Kaela stood with a grin, stretching her long legs. "I'm coming, Jackson." She helped Miley and then Lilly stand, then she hugged them both. "Goodnight, lovebirds," she said with a smile. "You two sleep tight."

"You too, Kae," Miley said as she put her arm around Lilly. As Kaela opened the door, Miley and Lilly waved to Jackson. "Night night, Jackson!" they said in unison.

"Night you two," Jackson answered. "Try not to keep us up with your sex noises!" He quickly closed the door before the two pillows thudded into it, running down the hall as his own wife chased him into what used to be his bedroom.

"Sex noises," Miley huffed as she bent over to pick up the two pillows she and Lilly had thrown at her brother. "Lilly, can you--" Her voice failed her as she felt Lilly's warm hand slip down the rear of her pajama shorts, fingers delicately diving beneath Miley's silk panties and deep into her wife. "Ohhhhh..." Miley leaned forward until her head was against the door and moaned softly as Lilly gently worked her middle finger in and out of her wife. Lilly reached down with her other arm and gently rubbed Miley's back, then she slowly guided Miley back to a standing position. When Miley felt Lilly's finger slide out of her, she turned to see Lilly's smile waiting on her.

"Like that?" Lilly said with a sneaky grin.

"What do you think?" Miley said, raising an eyebrow as she lowered her shorts and panties. She tugged upward on Lilly's Hannah Montana nightshirt. "Off," she demanded, pleased when Lilly immediately complied and revealed neither bra nor panties underneath. As Lilly stretched to remove the shirt, Miley's hands found their way to Lilly's chest, running up and down the smooth skin Miley had grown to known as well as her own. She heard Lilly's breathing increase slightly with the light touches she trailed up and down her ribs, then Miley found herself following Lilly down onto the bed as Lilly reclined. Miley straddled Lilly as she pursued her wife, then she leaned forward to claim a hot kiss from the only lover she would ever have. While they kissed, Miley gasped with surprise as Lilly once again plunged into her, drawing soft whimpers of pleasure that slowly built in intensity. When Lilly felt Miley's legs starting to give way, she rolled them over, resting Miley on her back while she herself turned to change positions. Now she was sitting directly over Miley's face while still focusing on the attention she was giving her wife. After just a few seconds Lilly felt Miley's hands grip her hips tightly, followed by the warm breath of her mouth and the fiery touch of her tongue where Lilly needed her the most. Lilly heard several deep, throaty moans of pleasure before she realized that those moans were her own; the sudden realization of that sent liquid fire throughout her body, triggering an unexpected orgasm that pulled what sounded like a howl from the back of her throat. Lilly felt her own body quivering as she began calling Miley's name over and over again, drunk with pleasure and passion as Miley used her mouth, tongue and fingers to touch Lilly in ways no one else would ever, _could_ ever know to touch her.

Lilly's next conscious sensation was that of Miley whispering in her left ear, telling her over and over how beautiful she was and how much she loved her. As Lilly curled up in Miley's arms, she hazily remembered that she hadn't finished what she had started with Miley earlier. However, her shifting was met with Miley tightening her grip on Lilly, preventing Lilly from getting loose.

"Shhhh," Miley whispered, the heat of her breath sending very pleasant tingles down Lilly's neck. "It's okay, Lilly Bear. You've made me come so many times I can't count them all." Miley gave Lilly's ear a soft kiss, being careful not to blow any air into Lilly's sensitive ear. "Tonight is on me, lover. You needed it."

Lilly smiled and kept her eyes closed as she felt sleep overtaking her again. She sent a quick prayer heavenward with her last remnants of consciousness: _Thank You for what You've given me, and please help me protect this woman and our family. With my life if needed._ Then she was lost in the soothing comfort of her wife's embrace.

Down the hall, Jackson removed the pillow from his ears. "Are they done yet?" he asked Kaela, the two of them squeezed into the full bed in his old room.

"Yes, Jackson, I think they're done," Kaela said with a sigh. She had almost been asleep herself; she found it easier to tune out Miley and Lilly making love than her husband did.

"Thank the Lord," Jackson said with relief, for several reasons.

Kaela turned to face him. "You know, it's okay for you to get turned on listening to them," she said with a smile. "You can't help what your body responds to... as long as it responds to me first."

He shivered as he felt her hand make its way down the front of his pajama pants. "But it's my sister and Lilly!" he protested quietly.

Kaela shuddered as she remembered Lilly's guttural howl as Miley very obviously took her to an orgasm. "Well, they're my sisters-in-law too, but my God, they're hot when they're into each other!" she said with a giggle as she began to kiss Jackson's neck. "Don't worry, I'm not having any fantasies about either of them, because I'm straight and you're my man, it's just that the sheer heat they have for each other is enough to turn _anyone_ on."

Jackson shifted as Kaela tugged off his pants. He reached down to find that Kaela had already removed her panties sometime earlier, much to his happy surprise. "So is that your way of sayin' that you're turned on?" he asked.

"Mmhmm," she replied, nuzzling his neck with soft kisses. "And now I expect you to do something about it."

Down the hall even further, Robbie Ray slept peacefully. Long ago he had learned the value of earplugs at bedtime.

Six a.m. came far too early for either Miley or Lilly, but they still managed to roll out of the bed—literally, in Lilly's case—and start getting ready for school. As Miley got the shower turned on, she turned to see Lilly brushing her teeth with one hand and rubbing her butt with the other. "Thah hurth," Lilly said around a mouthful of foamy toothpaste.

"Spit, please, then speak," Miley said as she moved over and inspected the very minimally red spot on Lilly's bottom. "It's barely red," she said, unimpressed. "I've spanked you harder than that."

Lilly spit, then she said, "It hasn't had time to bruise yet," batting her eyes at Miley. She was obviously angling for some sympathy, and Miley wasn't sure if she should give it to her so easily just yet.

"I don't know..." Miley said, chewing her lip in a gesture of deep thought. "Your butt looks pretty good to me."

Lilly rinsed her mouth and put up her toothbrush, then she turned to look at Miley. "Tease," she said with a smile as she stepped past Miley and into the shower. As Miley joined Lilly in the warm steam of the shower, Lilly turned and pulled Miley close under the spray of hot water. "I think I still owe you something from last night," she said with a mischievous smile on her face. She gently pushed Miley back against the rear wall of the shower and dropped to her knees, letting the shower spray strike her in the small of her back. As Miley lifted her right leg and propped it on the edge of the tub, Lilly murmured, "You are so beautiful, Miles," then she felt Miley's hands on her head and Lilly gave herself over completely to pleasing the woman she loved.

Once the rather lengthy shower was finished (along with the hot water), Miley and Lilly got busy drying their bodies and hair. Selecting outfits for today went smoothly, as the weather was expected to be typically pleasant for Malibu. Miley elected to wear a multicolored striped dress with pastel green capri pants underneath, accentuating the many colors of her dress. Lilly opted for a gray and pink elbow-length t-shirt, baggy dark gray cargo shorts, a lavender ski cap and her faithful Asics. Miley was likewise wearing Asics tennis shoes, but hers were a mix of white and pink that was altogether more sedate than Lilly's black, red and silver.

Once they were dressed and ready, they stormed downstairs, where Robbie Ray had already fixed breakfast for everyone. They were surprised to see Kaela already awake and sitting at the island, picking at her breakfast of a waffle and bacon.

"Oh yummy!" Lilly said as she made a beeline for the plate of bacon next to the stove. She grabbed a plate and scooped a generous portion of bacon onto it, stopping to give Robbie Ray a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks Mr. S," she said cheerily, then she sat next to Miley and across from Kaela. "Thanks hon," she said to Miley as Miley slid a glass of red grapefruit juice in front of Lilly. In return, Lilly set the plate of bacon between the two of them so they could share.

"You're welcome," Miley said as Lilly picked up two pieces of bacon with her left hand and ate them in quick succession.

"I have _never_ seen anyone do that," Kaela said as she watched Lilly dexterously handle both slices of bacon with one hand. "Afraid someone's gonna snatch your bacon, Lilly?" Lilly gave Kaela a suspicious look out of the corner of her eye, then she carefully slid her right hand in front of the plate of bacon to shield it from Kaela, getting laughs from both Miley and Kaela.

"Stop it, silly," Miley said, trying to stop laughing. She looked at her sister-in-law and asked, "So what are you and Jackson doin' today?"

"Well, we're spending most of today with my mom, I think. At least until we manage to shop Jackson out." She smiled. "Then I expect he'll come back here and spend some time with your dad, which would be good for both of them."

"Yeah," Miley said a bit more softly. "Daddy misses him sometimes. He'd never say it, but we can tell."

"Yeah, him offering to take Oliver hunting a few months ago was a big clue there," Lilly said after swallowing a drink of her grapefruit juice. "Not exactly sure what your dad was planning on hunting around here, though."

Miley shook her head. "Neither am I. And can you imagine Oliver trying to shoot anything?"

Lilly laughed, nearly choking on her bacon. "Heck no! That's a scary thought." She went back to eating, then she suddenly blurted out, "Miley!"

"What?"

"Our prom dresses are supposed to be in today! We have to go in and make sure they fit!"

Kaela smiled at their excitement, as she had fond memories of her senior prom. Miley had given her one of Hannah's formal dresses to wear. Given the difference in their height, what had been a sapphire evening gown for Miley became a sexy cocktail dress for Kaela, showing off her long legs in a way that Jackson deeply appreciated that night. She brought her thoughts back to the present and asked her sisters-in-law, "What kind of dresses did you two get?"

Miley smiled, her trademark smile that usually indicated trouble had either found her or wasn't far behind. "After school, come check 'em out with us while we make sure they fit right," she said to Kaela.

Less than half an hour following school dismissal, the three of them met at the mall. "We had the dresses made just for us, so they should fit perfectly," Lilly told Kaela as they walked to the store Formalities, a rather upscale tuxedo and formal gown store. "But we've learned to check."

"What kind of dresses are they?" Kaela asked.

Miley and Lilly looked at each other and tried not to laugh. "You'll see," Miley said as they entered the store.

As the three of them approached the counter, the young women at the counter turned and greeted them. "Mrs. Truscott!" the brown-haired one said. "Your dresses got here this morning, and they look amazing!" She turned to her co-worker and said, "Go get them, Nicole, please." As Nicole hustled into the rear of the store, Kaela wandered around, looking at the evening gown section.

"Kae," Lilly called out from a bit farther away.

As Kaela approached, she saw Lilly was looking at a small rack with several different styles of gowns on it. Everything from the traditional sequined dress in both classic and modern bright colors to new designs with irregular necklines and hemlines could be found on the rack. Kaela touched one of the gowns, a golden thigh-length cocktail dress that shone like burnished metal but felt like cashmere. "Holy shit," she said softly, but loudly enough for Lilly to hear. "What's this thing made of?"

"It's a blend of several different fibers, but I can't remember exactly which ones right now. Feels like heaven and looks just as good." Lilly smiled at Kaela rubbing the dress. "You like that?"

"Yeah," Kaela said. She realized what Lilly had said and looked at her. "How would you know what it was made of?"

Lilly moved the dress so Kaela could see the label, bright pink letters on a dark gray background: _Love, Lola_.

"Oh, you have got to be shitting me!" Kaela said in a loud whisper. "You have your own clothing line?"

Lilly turned a bit red, but she nodded her head. "The _Love, Lola_ brand is going to be a high quality clothing line; everything from shirts and shorts to really nice dresses, that kind of stuff. Some of the designers from our wedding had talked about launching a high-end line aimed at teenagers. You know, stuff better than what you'd find at department stores but not as expensive as the really big names. When they got around to starting it as a side business, they asked me to help with input and to use my name. We got to really throw out the book on colors and patterns, too."

Kaela admired the variety of colors and cuts on the rack and the smaller one next to it, which held the patterns and prints. The clashing and complimentary colors found in most of those dresses were definitely solid indications of "Lola's" hand in the design.

"Okay Lil, try yours on!" said Miley loudly as she came toward them with two gowns. The one she was holding out for Lilly was a midnight blue, almost black, with a multitude of sparkling dots of various sizes across the entire gown. It looked like a night sky filled with stars, and Kaela expected it would look amazing on Lilly. Miley's gown was a rich red in color, covered in what looked like small scales that caught the light and reflected it in surprising ways. "Hurry, so we can go look at the shoes!"

"You two hadn't picked out your shoes yet?" Kaela asked.

Miley shook her head as she handed Lilly her gown and shooed her toward the changing rooms. "I wanted to wait until the gowns came back. Superstition, you know."

"Ah," Kaela said, nodding her head. "Don't pick out your shoes until your dress is back," she said sarcastically.

"Exactly," said Miley, whom the sarcasm was apparently lost upon for the moment. She herself made a beeline back to another changing room to try on her own gown.

As Kaela watched the two of them step into adjacent dressing rooms, she looked around the store until another shopper caught her eye. This girl was roughly the same age as the three of them, with jet black hair cut slightly shorter than Lilly's but with a touch of curls throughout. She was quite attractive, except for the glare she was casting in the direction of the fitting rooms. Kaela slowly circled around the store, trying to surreptitiously watch the angry girl until her attention was drawn to the sound of the door chime, announcing the arrival of another customer. As Kaela turned to see who the newest customer was, she felt a chill run down her spine. "Of all the dumb fucking luck," she muttered. The angry dark-haired girl smiled and waved as Amber Addison made her way through the racks of dresses.

"Hey Janelle," Amber said, stopping short of the other girl. "What's up?"

Janelle jerked her head in the direction of the fitting rooms. "You won't believe who just went into the dressing rooms." When Amber just gave her an angry look and shrugged her shoulders impatiently, Janelle said, "Seaview's queen dykes. Both of 'em."

Amber turned to look at the dressing rooms, just as Miley and Lilly came out and began inspecting each other's dresses. Amber's smile had all the warmth of an iceberg as she thinly said, "Oh, this must be my lucky day." She began striding through the racks of dresses, making sure to keep something between her and her two nemeses as she approached them.

"Well, Kaela, you're the one who said you hoped this week wouldn't be too boring," Kaela said to herself as she likewise began making her way through the clothing racks on an intercept course with Amber, hoping she could get there in time to prevent whatever Amber had in mind.

**Author's Afterword:** Sorry this chapter is short, but like I said in the foreword I've been moving the last three days and still have quite a bit to do. As soon as I reproof this chapter and post it, I'll be breaking my computer down and moving it. It'll be at least four days before I'll have Internet access at my new house, so I'll just have to use my offline time constructively. See all of you as soon as I possibly can!

-- Jo --


	4. Chapter 4: What Hurts the Most

**Author's Note:** I'm posting this chapter from my office because my lovely cable company has totally screwed up the installation at my new house. If I can get someone to run a temporary cable drop until they can find the time to do my permanent buried line, then I'll hopefully be back online within the next week. Otherwise, the soonest they can get to my house is April 28th. That's a long damn time without phone service, Internet or cable. I'm very sorry for it taking so long to update, but it took a while for me to figure a way around my office security. On the bright side, I've been working on our story while I was offline as I promised. If you've sent me an email over the past 10 days, please be patient; I'll check my mail and reply as soon as I'm able.

Several readers have asked exactly what sort of powers Lola's character on _Heroes_ possesses. Lola's character Josie is an elementalist. She has the power to manipulate the basic elements of earth, air, fire and water. Currently on the show she cannot create any of these elements, only use what portions of them are at hand. Now in her third season on the show, Josie has learned how to manipulate the elements in more complicated (and messy) forms, as well as better tactical ways to use her powers. For those of you who notice a resemblance to the powers displayed on Nickelodeon's _Avatar_, the powers are extremely similar. However, not only can Josie work with all four basic elements, her powers allow her to mix elements for more varied effects, such as creating liquid fire (napalm), steam, concrete, air-infused rock that floats and so forth. Also, she doesn't need to use any hand or arm gestures to use her powers, although such somatic movements do help her focus her control. Will she learn to create elements from nothing? Well, yeah. That's for Sylar to find out in the season finale when Josie and Claire get to kick his ass after foiling his plot to resurrect his mother using Claire's power.

Here are my standard disclaimers: I make no claims on any of Disney's, Miley Cyrus', Emily Osment's or Hannah Montana's trademarks or copyrights, and no infringement is intended. Be forewarned that this story most certainly will contain femslash. If love and affection between two consenting young adults of the same sex bothers you, I suggest you turn right around and find something else to read. Keep any flames to yourself and remember that what our world needs now is more love and acceptance, not more hate. Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated!

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 4: What Hurts the Most

_I see you dressed to kill_

_I know I can't wait until_

_Hallelujah, here she comes _

_I see you dressed in black_

_I guess I'm not comin' back_

_Hallelujah, here she comes_

--U2;"Hallelujah Here She comes"

Miley was looking at the back of Lilly's prom dress when the racks of clothes closest to them savagely parted to reveal Amber Addison, a look of feral glee on her face. Miley was so surprised that she couldn't even get her mouth closed. Lilly had already registered the noise of the clothes being pushed aside, but when the icy jolt of fright hit her stomach, it caused her to spin immediately to see what had upset Miley so intensely. However, by then Miley's shock had given way to her desire—no, her _need_—to protect Lilly, and she had moved to put herself between Amber and her wife. "What the devil do you want, Amber?" Miley said angrily.

"You mean, other than for the two of you to just go away permanently?" Amber said, clutching her hand to her chest in an overly dramatic gesture.

"Not gonna happen," Miley said firmly. "And besides, I thought you woulda learned your lesson about messing with us already. I mean, you've already been expelled from Seaview and put on probation for attacking us last year."

"My probation ended months ago, bitch," Amber spat out. "But I'd be willing to get some more if it gave me a chance to stomp your skinny ass."

At that comment, Lilly put herself in front of Miley. "Try it, Amber," she said as she locked gazes with her former classmate. While an inch shorter than Miley and several inches shorter than Amber, both girls knew Lilly was at least a match for Amber in terms of physical strength. But any further comment was forestalled when Miley gently took Lilly's arm and tugged slightly.

"She's not worth it, Lilly," Miley said in a calm voice. "I promise. Let her talk all the trash she wants; it still won't change the fact that we're happy and she's not."

Amber had just begun to fume when the assistant manager of Formalities approached the trio and said, "Is something the matter, ladies?"

Lilly turned to Nicole and said, "I don't think so, Nicole. I think Amber here has got us mistaken for two people who actually care what she has to say." With that she turned and led Miley back into the dressing rooms.

Nicole gave Amber a frigid stare. She tried to be nice to all her customers, but Miley and Lilly had been particularly good customers, plus she had grown to like the young couple over the last year. They had ordered all their formal dresses and gowns for the dances, homecomings, banquets, junior prom and now the senior prom from Formalities, giving the store quite a bit of business. The last thing Nicole wanted was for someone to cause them trouble while they were in her store. "Can I help you?" Nicole said to Amber in a voice that was as far from helpful as hot was from cold.

"Not if you're helping them," Amber replied as she spun and knocked several dresses off a rack. "Oops," she said dully as she turned her back on both the mess and the young woman and walked off. As Amber walked out the door, her friend Janelle met her and left hot on Amber's heels.

After she made sure that the two of them were really gone, Kaela went back over to the dressing rooms. "Mega Bitch and her sidekick PMS Girl have left the store," she called over the doors to the rooms her friends were using.

"Good," Lilly's voice floated back at Kaela. "Can you believe her?"

"Yeah, I can," Kaela said glumly. "She just really hates you two. Plus her friend didn't seem too happy."

This time it was Miley's voice that came over the top of the door. "She had a friend with her?"

Even though the two of them couldn't see her, Kaela reflexively nodded. "Yeah, some girl with short black hair, lots of necklaces, an eyebrow ring, about as tall as Amber was."

The door to the left stall opened, revealing Miley, once again in her regular clothes. "Black lipstick? Little skull earrings?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah, I think so," Kaela replied.

The right stall door opened then, revealing Lilly in her regular clothes as well. "Janelle Gertz?" she said to Miley. "I thought I saw her in here when we were going to the changing rooms."

Miley nodded. "Same here. But I didn't know she was friends with Amber."

Lilly laughed as she said, "I didn't know she was friends with _anybody_." She paused, then added, "But then I could say the same thing about Amber. So maybe it makes sense for the two of them to be friends. In a weird illogical way." Lilly paused for another few seconds, then she shrugged and added, "I guess."

Miley gave Lilly a look of doubt. "As much as I love you, sometimes I worry about your trains of thought, Lil."

Lilly smiled and put her left arm around Miley as she handed her prom dress back to Nicole, who had just been watching the three of them converse while trying not to laugh. "The dress is perfect, Nicole," Lilly said with a smile. "And Miley's looks just as perfect."

Nicole smiled as she took the two dresses. "I'll go get them ready for you two. You've already paid, so there's nothing else you need to do for them."

"We still need our shoes," Miley said. "Can you dye our shoes to match our dresses, please?"

"Of course," Nicole said pleasantly. "When's your prom? This weekend?"

Miley and Lilly both nodded. "Saturday night," Lilly clarified. "When can we pick them up?"

"Friday after school should work fine," Nicole added.

"Okay, thanks!" Miley said happily. She turned to Kaela and said, "Now it's time for us to take our favorite sister-in-law to the Marble Slab!"

As Miley put her left arm around Kaela and her right arm around Lilly, Kaela said, "Um, not to knock free ice cream or anything, but I'm pretty sure I'm still your _only_ sister-in-law."

"Details," Miley said with a grin on her face.

The rest of the school week seemed to drag on endlessly until Friday finally arrived. Everyone was excited about tomorrow night's prom, and the buzz around the school only grew when the principal announced that Seaview had won a nationwide contest to have the band Paramore play at the prom. No one seemed to recall actually sending in an entry for the contest—or really even hearing about such a contest—but that was a trifling detail easily forgotten in all the excitement. Paramore was one of both Miley's and Lilly's favorite bands, and Hannah and Lola were both friends with Hayley, the band's lead singer, who was just three years older than the two of them. When Hannah and Lola had asked for a favor, Hayley had been happy to make it happen. Everyone at Seaview was so thrilled about the surprise booking that even the fact that the dreaded substitute Mr. Headrick was covering for Mr. Corelli for the third day in a row couldn't dampen anyone's spirits.

When the bell for fourth period rang, Miley and Lilly met up at their locker. "Ugh," Lilly said as she put up her Chemistry book and grabbed her Economics book. "I already heard that Mr. Headrick is back again today."

Miley nodded. "Yeah, and he's as pleasant as ever," she said. She had already been through that class in her second period, and she was eager for Mr. Corelli to return.

"I don't know what creeps me out more, the weird mothball smell that follows him around or the fact that he plays pocket pool all day." Lilly closed their locker with a bang, then she turned and fell back against the locker and sighed. "I just want today to be _over_," she said plaintively.

Miley leaned over and quickly kissed Lilly's forehead, pulling back before any teacher saw. "It'll be over soon, hon, and then we can head down to the concert in San Diego. I can't wait to play my new songs for you."

Lilly turned pale, then she banged her head once against the locker. "Oh crap Miles, I forget to tell you!" She leaned in and whispered, "Lola got a callback from Dimension 4 Studios earlier today. They left it on my voice mail." An expression of dismay fell across her face as she said, "I'm not going to be able to go to your concert with you tonight, because they want to meet with me at five-thirty today and talk about putting me in a movie they're going to start filming in a month or two."

Normally Miley would have been thrilled for Lola to finally have a chance to be in a movie, but the two of them had been looking forward to tonight's concert for nearly a month. Hannah's long-awaited fifth album was coming out in three weeks, and tonight was going to be the first night that any of the new songs were performed in concert. Miley had endlessly rehearsed the songs in preparation for performing them for the woman she loved, and Lilly had promised to be there with her. _But now Lilly isn't going to be there. Even though she promised!_ Miley honestly didn't know how to feel at that moment, so many different emotions were racing through her head and her heart. "How can you not be there, Lilly?" she said heatedly. "I need you there! You're always there with me, that's what makes it special."

Without even thinking, Lilly yelled out, "Why is it always about you, Miley? Why can't I get a chance too?" As soon as she realized what she had said, Lilly froze, horrified. _Did I really just say that? WHY did I just say that?_

As Lilly watched the multitude of emotions flash across her wife's face and the tears pool in Miley's deep blue eyes, she rapidly felt more and more like a heel. _Miley had been counting on you being there! And you had promised her that you'd be there for her while she performed those new songs in concert for the first time. We're __always__ there together, especially for a new album's first concert. And you YELLED at her! At the woman you'd give your life for!_ Lilly swallowed the lump in her throat and said, "Miles, I--" But her sentence was cut off by Miley turning and running to the bathroom, a departure so abrupt that she nearly ran over a poor freshman who just happened to be walking behind her.

As Lilly watched Miley disappear into the restrooms, a wave of pain and nausea hit her squarely in the stomach, sending her sliding all the way down her locker to the floor. Lilly knew exactly why that pain was there; she had put it there by hurting Miley, letting her down when she was needing her. _But why isn't she happy for __me__? I mean, I've been trying to get at least a small part in a movie for over a year now, and this is the first real interest any studio has shown in Lola. Why can't Miley understand and be supportive of me this time?_ As the tears welled up and the sobs began, Lilly closed her eyes as tightly as she could, hoping and praying for the pain to go away.

As Ashley walked through the lockers, she noticed a gap in the mass of bodies. Something like that always warranted attention so she made her way to it, but she wasn't the least bit ready for what she saw. The shock of seeing Lilly sitting on the floor sobbing like her heart had been wrenched out was staggering, and it took her a few seconds before her legs would move. Once she regained control of her balking limbs, she hurried over to Lilly and knelt down. "Lilly? Lilly! What's wrong?" She looked around for Miley, knowing that Lilly's wife was the one who could comfort her the most, but she couldn't find her. However, she did see someone who could almost certainly help. "Oliver!" she yelled at her boyfriend.

As Oliver registered the sight of Ashley and Lilly on the ground in the locker area, he hurried over. "What's going on?" he asked, worry in his voice.

"I don't know," Ashley said as she lightly shook Lilly. "I just saw her on the ground like this. She won't talk to me."

"Where's Miley?" Oliver asked, looking around as well. But at the mention of Miley's name, Lilly's chest heaved again and the sobs intensified.

The realization hit Ashley full force. "Are you crying because of Miley?" she asked Lilly. "Did you two have a fight or something?" Lilly nodded, still unable to speak. Ashley turned to Oliver. "Oliver, get her outside somewhere. Take her out back on the lunch patio or something." She stood up. "I'm going to get Miley."

"How do you know where she is?" Oliver asked as he grabbed Lilly's dropped backpack.

Ashley shuddered as she looked at Lilly again. "If they got into a fight, then I bet Miley's not doing any better than Lilly is. She can't have gotten very far and since I don't see another crowd standing around out here, she's _got _to be in the bathroom." She took two steps that way, then she turned and said, "I'll meet you out there in a minute or two." Nothing was said about any of them being late. Getting a tardy slip was a small sacrifice for a friend in need.

Five minutes later, Ashley led Miley outside to where Oliver sat at a table with Lilly. As Lilly looked up at Miley and Ashley approaching, Ashley could clearly see how red her eyes had become. She had already seen those same teary eyes in Miley just moments ago, the blue contrasting with the streaks of red surrounding each girl's irises. As Ashley sat Miley down next to Lilly, the two of them fell into each other's arms. What tenuous hold each girl had over her tears slipped as they held each other and began crying again. Ashley and Oliver could hear both of them repeatedly saying, "Sorry," and "I'm so sorry," and "I love you," but nothing else that they could make out. After two or three minutes, Ashley said, "We're going to get to class and tell everyone that you two got sick or something and needed to go home. I'm going to call Mr. Stewart and have him call the office to have you two released to go home." Lilly, who happened to be facing Ashley, nodded, tears running down her cheeks. Ashley offered them a faint smile, but she didn't feel very happy. Watching two of your friends cry like their hearts had been broken tended to wipe away any levity.

As Ashley and Oliver made their way to the Student Affairs office to get their tardy slips, Ashley leaned against Oliver, prompting him to take her hand. "Have you ever seen them that upset?" she asked Oliver.

He didn't look at Ashley, but he did say, "Kind of. But nothing quite like that."

"What was it?"

"When Miley was dating Jake Ryan a few years ago," he said. "Lilly was really upset, but she did a good job of hiding it. Anyway, this one day I went over to her house because I had forgotten my house key, so I figured I'd just hang out with her until my mom got home. Her mom let me in, and I just went on up to her room. But when I got up to the top of stairs, I could Lilly crying, and I mean really crying. She was sobbing, just like she was back there in the lockers, and it tore me up to hear how heartbroken she sounded. I knew it was because Miley was dating Jake and Lilly was trying to deal with the feelings she was having for Miley, but still..." He trailed off, then he finally did turn to look at Ashley as they stopped outside the SA office. "It was horrible," he said. "Hearing one of my best friends in that much pain and not being able to do anything about it."

Ashley gave Oliver a smile and said, "But they figured it out, huh?"

Oliver smiled back and nodded. "Yeah, they did. Now what are we going to tell them in there?"

Ashley's smile never faltered as she said, "You just leave that one to me. Some things you just need a woman for."

Outside Miley and Lilly had finally cried themselves out after several minutes. As they began to get their tears under control, they pulled away, but neither felt up to facing the other just yet. "You okay to drive home?" Miley asked Lilly. Lilly nodded in response, prompting Miley to stand then help Lilly up. As they walked to their car, Miley took Lilly's hand, getting a warm squeeze in return. "Our first fight," Miley said with a voice laden with both regret and relief.

"Yeah," mumbled Lilly. "Sucks."

Miley nodded, then she realized that Lilly probably still wasn't looking up. "Yeah," she added dully. "But at least we got over it fast."

"There's that," Lilly said as she looked up but stared straight ahead. "Still hurts, though. But yeah, it's over, and we survived it."

As they reached the car, Miley tapped in the code to open the driver's door, closing it behind Lilly once she sat. As Miley slid into the passenger seat, Lilly keyed the car's ignition sequence. Once Miley's seatbelt was snapped into position, Lilly backed out and slowly drove to their home. "I'm sorry again, Miles, for yelling at you and for forgetting about the concert," Lilly said. "I got so excited when I heard that a studio was finally interested in me for a movie that I just forgot about the concert tonight, and that is _so_ not me."

Miley laughed, a true laugh. "What about that time I had surgery on my vocal cords, and you were going to do all my talking for me? The first boy that came up and asked you to go surfing, you dropped me like a sack a' rattlesnakes!"

Lilly shifted in her seat a bit, but she did smile. "Well, I hadn't gotten to go surfing for nearly a week..."

Miley took Lilly's hand and said, "Lilly, you know I'm just joking," phrasing it as a statement rather than a question. "I was the one who told you to go. Well, waved you to go." Miley got silent as they pulled into their driveway. Robbie Ray's Suburban was gone, as was the rental car Jackson and Kaela were using. "I was so scared that week," Miley said, her voice sounding much more like the young girl she used to be rather than the young woman she had become.

Lilly turned off the car and looked at Miley. "I'd still have loved you even if you had lost your singing voice." Lilly's eyes grew big, then she said, "Hey, wasn't that the first time you saw your mom in a dream?"

Miley thought about it and then nodded. "Yeah, it was. Well, in a dream like that." Miley glanced at her watch and said, "What time is your interview with that studio?"

"Five-thirty, in Los Angeles," Lilly replied. "This sucks, Miles. I really wanted to hear you sing those new songs in concert. They sounded great when you recorded them. Especially the one we wrote together."

Miley forced a smile on her face as she replied, "You can hear them next time, Lilly Bear. It's okay. I know how much you've wanted a chance to get your foot in the door with movies."

Lilly leaned across the small cockpit of the car and hugged Miley, ending with a deep kiss. "How much time do you have before you have to leave for your concert?"

"Daddy is wanting us to leave by four to account for traffic. That gets me there in plenty of time even with rush hour."

Lilly glanced down, then she looked back up with a new fire flickering in her eyes. Without warning, she reached over with her left hand and slid it up Miley's shirt, moving her bra out of the way as she gently held Miley's right breast. Lilly then leaned over and kissed Miley again, hotly this time, communicating her passion and desire for her wife clearly. Miley responded by pulling Lilly closer with her left arm and trying to snake her right hand down the front of Lilly's shorts. Luckily Lilly had worn a pair of looser cargo shorts, and Miley's hand readily slid underneath Lilly's shorts and panties, coaxing a sensual moan from the love of her life. "Let's go inside," Miley said, her own desire heavy in her voice.

As soon as they made it to their bedroom, they closed the door and turned on the radio, then they attacked each other with abandon. Miley tore Lilly's shirt slightly as she yanked it off her chest, but when she started to apologize her words froze in her throat as she saw that the flame in Lilly's eyes had been fanned into a blaze. Lilly's voice was a growl as she said, "Miley, right now I am so hot for you that my panties are soaked."

Miley was happy to confirm Lilly's statement, and she was truly amazed by what she felt. "I've never felt you so wet, Lil," Miley gasped as Lilly took Miley's shirt and bra both off at once with an impressive move. Miley slid a long, slim finger into Lilly, making her wife shudder and gasp deeply for breath.

Lilly clenched Miley's shoulders for the first few strokes, then she softly chuckled at how amazing Miley felt inside her. While Miley focused on pleasing Lilly, Lilly fumbled around until she got Miley's belt and then jeans undone with one hand, then she abruptly stood on her tiptoes and gently pulled Miley's hand out of her shorts. "My turn," she said to Miley, then she dropped to her knees, taking Miley's jeans and panties down to the floor with her.

As Miley looked down at Lilly on her knees, licking her lips in anticipation of tasting her wife again, she felt like a young goddess, receiving an offering of love and faith. She reached down and caressed Lilly's cheek with her right hand, not needing to say anything to convey how special Lilly made her feel. As Miley did that, Lilly looked up and gave her a look of passion that made chills run up Miley's spine. Before Miley could take a deep breath, Lilly grabbed her butt and pulled her forward onto her mouth, taking Miley's breath completely away as she began to make love to her wife. For long seconds Miley struggled to breath, but finally her body's reflexes took over as she began to fade out, sucking in a deep breath before she could pass out. As Miley breathed in, she made a faint high-pitched keening sound, triggering a reaction inside Lilly.

Lilly stood suddenly, leaving Miley an empty feeling where the warmth of her mouth and tongue had been just a second earlier. Before Miley could say anything or ask her to go back down, Lilly slid her middle finger inside Miley and began stroking her in and out with a slight curve in her finger, just how Miley liked it. Lilly clamped her now wet mouth over Miley's, hungrily claiming a kiss. There was no hesitation in Miley's response, which was immediate and just as needy. Some time ago Miley had realized that tasting herself on Lilly's lips and tongue was an intense turn-on, and Lilly was all too aware of that. In just a few minutes Miley would reverse the situation, because Lilly likewise found it intensely erotic to taste herself on Miley's mouth or fingers. But then Miley's thoughts abruptly shot away from her, leaving only a rushing roar to fill her brain as Lilly expertly brought Miley to the first orgasm of what would be several for each young woman.

Nearly an hour later, Miley awoke. She smiled as she looked at Lilly's face, eyes closed and lips slightly puckered. Miley gently eased Lilly out of her grasp and stood up. She moved as quietly as she could to the Hannah and Lola Closet, redone two months ago to maximize space inside it. Miley picked out her silver and black sequined miniskirt dress, a pair of black leggings and black combat boots—a gift from Lilly for Christmas. Miley had been planning on wearing them for two weeks now, and she decided to still wear them for Lilly even though her lover wouldn't be there tonight. This way she had something tangible to know that Lilly was still there with her in spirit.

After dressing, Miley went over to their dry-erase board inside the closet and wrote a message for Lilly on it. She signed her name at the bottom, dotting her i with a heart, as she and Lilly always did when writing notes to each other. Miley smiled and walked out of the closet, determined to do the best job she could tonight for Lilly, whether her wife was there or not. As Miley leaned down and gave Lilly a soft kiss on her head, she very, very faintly whispered, "Good luck on your interview, Lilly Bear. I love you." Then she silently stepped out of the room and closed the door.

When Lilly awoke some time later, she immediately looked around for Miley. "Miles?" she called out, then she saw the time on their alarm clock: four-fourteen. As she looked at the clock, it turned to four-fifteen and Miley's voice came out, saying, "Time to wake up! Time to wake up!" Lilly smiled as she reached over and turned off the clock, then she sat up and rubbed her hand over her face. She stretched, feeling a few joints pop nicely, then she flung the covers off and stood. "Gotta get ready," she said to herself. Robbie Ray was driving Miley to her concert in San Diego, so Lilly would be driving herself to Los Angeles.

As Lilly went into the closet, she saw that Miley had set out a low-cut dress of pink and black zigzags, a thin yellow t-shirt to wear underneath, white fishnet stockings, her favorite bright pink pumps, Lola's white wig and an assortment of bangles and bows. "You're too good to me, Miles," she said softly as she started to get dressed. Less than five minutes later, Lola Montana was ready to turn heads and break hearts. Lilly looked over at the dry-erase board and couldn't help but smile and say, "Awww," as she saw Miley's sweet note:

_Knock 'em dead, lover!_

_Whether you're there or not, _

_I'll sing every song for you and only you._

_And I know you'll do great at your audition._

_Your gorgeous wife,_

_MT_

Lilly felt a tear creep from her right eye as she read the note. "Love you too, Miley Truscott," she said as she turned off the light and walked out the door.

Lilly didn't put her Lola wig on as she got in their Roadster and started for Los Angeles. This close to their home, it would be too suspicious if someone saw Lola Montana driving an obsidian Tesla Roadster just like Lilly's and Miley's car. In minutes she was on the freeway and moving east at a decent pace. But as she drove, she felt anxiety gnawing at the back of her mind. Something was wrong and she knew it. As the green road sign indicating the next exit came up, Lilly almost laughed. "Well, I guess that's really a sign," she said to herself, then she put on her turn signal and took the exit.

When Miley arrived in San Diego, she was already more than a bit tired. The fight between her and Lilly had been brief but painful, and she was missing her wife's moral support at the moment. Still, she knew she had been right to let Lilly go to her interview. Lola had a career too, and there were going to be times that the two of them had to be apart. But knowing that didn't make the ache in her heart any more bearable. Miley finally found the dressing room after getting lost, much to her aggravation. She had done over a dozen concerts at this arena, so she had no reason to get lost other than just not paying attention. "Suck it up, Hannah," she muttered to herself as she opened the door to the dressing room, ready to get a bottled water and maybe an orange before her sound check.

Blackness greeted her instead of the brightly lit dressing room she was used to at this facility. "Perfect," she said with an exasperated voice. "Is _anything_ going to go right today?"

"I can think of one thing. Wait, make that two," came a voice from inside the darkness. At the sound of that familiar, lovely voice Miley's heart leaped, and she fumbled for the light switch, finally finding it and flicking it upward. As the lights flickered and lit the room, Miley saw Lilly sitting on the dressing room couch, wearing Lola's zigzag outfit Miley had picked out for her earlier. As Miley stared open-mouthed, Lilly stood and began walking to her wife slowly, a large smile on her face. When she reached Miley, she stood up straight and wrapped her arms around Miley's neck and kissed her softly. As they pulled apart following the kiss, Lilly smiled again and said, "I realized that there'll be other interviews for movies. But the first time new Hannah songs are performed in concert? That only happens once."

In response, all Miley could do was smile and then kiss Lilly again. After the kiss Miley hugged Lilly tightly and whispered, "I missed you all the way down here." Then she pulled back and said, "How did you beat me here?"

Lilly looked guilty for a second or two, then she said, "Well, I was having second thoughts while I was driving, then I looked up and saw I was at the exit for the airport. Soooo... I made a phone call and got the Hannah jet ready. I gotta hand it to your crew, 'cause they had that thing ready to fly in thirty minutes and me on the ground here in under sixty." Lilly glanced to the side briefly, then she said, "I'll reimburse the record company for what it cost, but I had to be here with you tonight." Lilly moved her arms to hold Miley around her waist, then she leaned her head forward to rest it on Miley's left shoulder. "My place is here with you, Miley. It always has been and it always will be."

Miley held her partner tightly, fighting back tears of happiness as she kept her eyes closed tightly. "I love you," she whispered, not trusting her voice to speak normally at that moment. "I love you so, so much."

Lilly whispered, "Just like you sang to me, I'll be right here when you need me."

"Promise?" Miley said, smiling even though Lilly couldn't see it currently.

"I promise."

"Okay." Miley found Lilly's lips and kissed her wife for several seconds. When they broke the kiss, they leaned their heads forward until their foreheads were touching. "We survived our first fight," Miley said with a smile.

"Yeah, and we did a great job making up," Lilly said with a smile herself. "But I'm sorry again about being such a bitch to you, hon." After a pause, Lilly said, "On the flight down here I was thinking about our dreams with your mom," Lilly said, looking into Miley's sparkling blue eyes. "And your mom already told us--"

"We can handle anything as long as we stay together," Miley finished. "Yeah. Thought about that, too."

"We're going to have disagreements, Miles," Lilly said, her smile fading. "But how we disagree is super important. We have to always remember that we love each other and that we want to be together."

"Not just _want_ to be together, Lil. We _have_ to be together. I have to have you in my life."

Lilly's smile sprang back up on her face. "Well, it's a darn good thing you got me, then."

"Oh yeah." Miley stepped back from Lilly and took Lilly's hand. "Want to come to sound check with me?" They started walking down the concrete hallway, since both girls already knew the answer to Miley's question.

"Do I get to sing during sound check?" Lilly asked, making Miley trip on something. "Watch where you're goin', woman! I need you healthy."

"You just want me for sex," Miley said, giving Lilly a flirty look.

Lilly looked straight ahead as a young man pushed a cart full of canned soft drinks past them. "No," Lilly said, "I want you for much more than that, but sex with you does rock my world." The two of them heard a loud crash from behind them, followed by the sound of several cans rolling down the hall in various directions as they continued on their way.

**Author's Afterword:** That felt like the perfect place to end the chapter. Next chapter we get the Prom! And if you've never heard Paramore, go check them out. They're outstanding. It's also worth noting that they're from the same town in Tennessee as the Cyruses, and that Miley really does love their music. I'm sure everyone has been waiting too long for me to update, thanks to my cable company, so now I'm going to go work on the next chapter. See you there, and hopefully I'll be able to post the next update from my home!

-- Jo --


	5. Chapter 5: Dressing Up

**Author's Note:** YAY! I'm back online! Finally got a temporary cable line put in until my permanent buried line can be placed, after two and a half weeks of no phone, no cable, and no Internet. My girls were good about it, though, and we had a fun time even without them. I'm trying to catch up on my mail and the stories, both old and new, but it's going to take some time to get through everything. If you've sent me a message, please know that I'll get to it as fast as I possibly can. Thanks to everyone for the great reviews, too! I'm so glad everyone in liking this story, because I think it's going to be the longest one yet. We'll see how it turns out.

**Maltese Knight **asked an interesting question: Do Miley and Lilly still make love if they're having their periods? It's funny that I had already planned on putting that subject into this story, so you'll get your answer in a few chapters. To all my readers, thanks much for the sweet reviews and comments. Such kindness really does fuel inspiration.

Here are my standard disclaimers: I make no claims on any of Disney's, Miley Cyrus', Emily Osment's or Hannah Montana's trademarks or copyrights, and no infringement is intended. Be forewarned that this story most certainly will contain femslash. If love and affection between two consenting young adults of the same sex bothers you, I suggest you turn right around and find something else to read. Keep any flames to yourself and remember that what our world needs now is more love and acceptance, not more hate. Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated!

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 5: Dressing Up

_Tell me where our time went_

_And if it was time well spent_

_Just don't let me fall asleep_

_Feeling empty again_

_Because I fear I might break_

_And I fear I can't take it_

_Tonight I lie awake_

_Feeling empty_

_I can feel the pressure_

_It's getting closer now_

_We're better off without you_

--Paramore;"Pressure"

Saturday morning came with a gentle breeze stirring the gauzy curtains in Miley and Lilly's room. As the invisible tendrils of wind felt their way around the cheery room, they encountered two young women spooned together in their bed, nestled so close that a quick glance might have suggested only one figure. Even their contrasting hair colors of silky blonde and chestnut brown mingled together, furthering the illusion of them being completely united into a single figure. But the illusion was broken when one of them grumbled and rolled over, taking most of the blanket with her.

"Hey," mumbled Miley sleepily as she reached behind her for the covers Lilly had taken away. "Gimme." She fumbled around before she finally got a grip on the covers, then she pulled, but to no avail. "Lil, the breeze is chilly," she said in a slightly more coherent voice as she rolled over and scooted up behind her wife. As Miley cuddled against Lilly, she slid more of the covers over her nude body as she grabbed Lilly's hips and pulled her own pelvis snug against Lilly's.

"Careful with those hands," Lilly said in a voice heavy with sleep. "Don't know where they've been."

Miley kissed Lilly on the back of her neck, currently exposed by the way her hair fell across their pillow. "I know exactly where they've been, and they're pretty close to there right now," she said as she gently trailed the fingertips of her right hand up and down Lilly's right hip, eliciting a happy shudder from her lover. "But right now they're really content with just holding this beautiful woman who happens to be in my bed."

"Mmmm, good thing," Lilly replied, her voice still sleepy. "Need more sleep to recover from all the sex."

While Miley and Lilly knew that they didn't _just_ have sex, making love instead, sometimes it was easier to express it with one short word. They both appreciated how sacred the act of making love to each other was, bordering on a religious experience for both of them every time they touched each other in that way. Sharing the act of love, sharing their orgasms and excitement, sharing their love and compassion for each other, that was what made each intimate action between them just as moving and holy as it had been their very first time. But what mattered was that when Lilly said "sex," Miley knew exactly what she meant. And thus Miley responded to Lilly's comment with, "Sex, sleep, and food. There anything else in your life, Truscott?"

"Mmmm," Lilly mumbled again. "That Hannah Montana chick. She's hot." Lilly wiggled her butt against Miley's pelvis, sending tingles up both girls' spines.

"She's also married," Miley said, enjoying playing this game. She felt sleep creeping back up on her as Lilly's warmth seeped into her body.

"Guess you're stuck with me then," Lilly said, making Miley smile.

"I can live with that. For the rest of my life and everything after." Miley closed her eyes.

"Me too, Miles. Me too."

About an hour later the alarm clock went off, with Miley's voice waking the two of them. Lilly fumbled for the clock, finally hitting the snooze button, but before she could settle back under the covers Miley gently pushed her out of the bed. "Hey!" Lilly said, catching herself with her hands before she hit the floor.

"Oops," Miley said, trying not to laugh. "We have to get up, Lilly. We have to get the downstairs cleaned this morning, then we've got to meet your mom for lunch."

Lilly stood and stretched, keeping her back to Miley. She knew how Miley practically drooled over her body when she stretched slowly, and so she maximized the time spent on her stretch. As she felt Miley's delicate fingers trace along her ribs and settle across her stomach, Lilly smiled. "Knew you couldn't resist me," she said with a content voice.

"Never," Miley said. "You're my one weakness."

"Aside from sports?" A pinch on her firm rear made Lilly jump forward slightly. "Ow!"

"Not nice, Truscott," Miley said before Lilly turned and kissed her deeply. After several seconds Lilly pulled her mouth back, teasingly trailing her tongue against Miley's as she pulled her lips away. "That, however, was very nice," Miley said, her eyes still closed in enjoyment as their bodies clung together.

"Glad you like it. Ready for our shower?"

"Oh yeah." Miley strolled into the bathroom and turned on the shower as Lilly started brushing her teeth. Miley used the bathroom as Lilly finished and squirted toothpaste on Miley's toothbrush. "Thanks hon," Miley said with a smile as she stood and Lilly handed her her toothbrush. Lilly smiled and went directly into the shower, where Miley could hear the water begin to spatter against her body. As Miley rinsed her mouth out, she had a thought. "Lilly? You're not peeing in the shower again, are you?"

A pause followed the question before Lilly very unconvincingly said, "No."

Miley sighed then eased back the shower curtain, revealing Lilly standing next to the drain. "You do that just to aggravate me, don't you?" Miley said, raising an eyebrow at her wife.

Lilly smiled and helped Miley into the shower, yielding her spot directly under the spray to her dark-haired wife. "There's nothing wrong with it, you know. I mean, it's going down the drain, plus it saves a flush."

Miley leaned her head back, soaking her thick hair with warm water. "It's just kinda weird knowing you've just peed where my feet are."

"Okay," Lilly said cheerily. "Next time I'll wait until you're already in the shower."

Miley sighed as Lilly handed her the shampoo. She wasn't going to win this one. "Alright," she said dramatically as she began shampooing her hair. She felt Lilly's hands help with the shampooing, and she couldn't help but smile at her wife's tender touch. "So what do I get if I admit that it's really not that big a deal?"

Lilly removed her hands from Miley to let her turn and stick her head under the water's spray. While she did that, Lilly reached around Miley to rinse her hands and hug her wife at the same time. She leaned in, just out of the water's direct spray, and said in her sultry voice, "I just might let you get lucky tonight after the prom."

Miley stood back up straight, letting Lilly squeeze her in a tight hug. "Best offer I've had all day," she said as she and Lilly exchanged places so Lilly could shampoo her hair.

The rest of the morning was spent cleaning the downstairs. Kaela pitched in and helped with cleaning the floors, and with the three of them working together the chores were finished by eleven-thirty. "Wow, thanks, Kae," Lilly said as they surveyed all they had accomplished. "You sure helped get things done."

"Being able to reach the top shelves to dust them without a chair makes things a bit easier," Kaela said with a smirk.

"Yeah, we can tell," Miley said, with just a hint of envy in her voice.

Lilly put her left arm around Miley, hugging her. "As far as I'm concerned, you're the perfect height, Miles," Lilly said. "I wouldn't change a thing about you."

Kaela looked at the clock on the wall. "What time are you two meeting Lilly's mom for lunch?"

Lilly looked at the clock and said, "Uh oh."

Miley looked up as well. "Um, we're supposed to meet her in two minutes." She turned to Lilly. "We're not going to have time to get ready."

Lilly shrugged. "She'll be happy to see us regardless of how we're dressed, Miles. She's been looking forward to having us over all week."

Miley smiled. "Okay, then let's go, dust bunny," she said as she smacked Lilly's butt. "I kinda miss spending every other weekend over there, but I wouldn't change living in our house for anything."

Lilly sat on the floor as she put on her socks and then her tennis shoes. "Same here."

"Was there a reason you two chose to live here instead of at Lilly's old house?" Kaela asked as she took a drink of her iced tea.

Miley slipped into her sandals as she leaned against the wall. "Several reasons, actually," she said as she buckled the leather sandals. "The Hannah and Lola Closet is over here, for one thing."

Lilly stood, saying, "Plus everyone here knew about our secret already, while Ron still doesn't. But those are little reasons."

Kaela waited a second or two, then she made a hurry up gesture with her free hand. "Okay, the big reason please?" she asked impatiently.

Lilly and Miley looked at each other knowingly, then Lilly took Miley's hand as she spoke. "This was where we kissed for the first time," Lilly said.

"And where we told each other how we really felt," Miley added with a smile.

"And where we made love for the first time." Lilly looked at Miley as she smiled at her wife. There had been many wonderful memories they had made in this house, both before and after being lovers, and they both knew there would be many, many more to come.

As if reading Lilly's mind, Miley said, "This is gonna be our home for a long time, Kae. This is where we plan on raising a family."

Kaela was dumbstruck by Miley's admission as Lilly turned and kissed Miley. "But not for several years, Miles. I want you all to myself for a while."

"Mmmm, kids can come later, I agree," Miley said as she melted into Lilly's embrace. She summoned up what willpower she had and patted Lilly on the back to signal they needed to get going. "Hon, as much as I want to curl up with you on the couch, we're late to be over at your parents' house, and we need to get going."

Lilly sighed but released Miley. "You're right, Miles. Kae, we'll see you later. I really appreciate you helping Miley get ready for the prom tonight." Kaela had offered to help Miley with her dress, hair and makeup a few days ago, and Miley had happily accepted. Several weeks ago Lilly had suggested Kaela and Jackson come into town the weekend of Seaview's senior prom, but it was sheer coincidence that the prom fell on the weekend after UT's spring break.

What was left unsaid in Lilly's suggestion was the real reason she had asked Kaela to help Miley: Miley's mother wasn't here to help her, and Lilly was afraid that her own mother wanting to help her get ready might upset Miley on some unconscious level. Lilly's mother had always planned to help Lilly get ready for her senior prom since Lilly had been in middle school and Lilly couldn't turn her down, but neither was she going to make Miley feel left out. Both girls had already talked about getting ready in a traditional way, at separate houses, and when Kaela had offered to help Miley get ready, the plans were finalized. Lilly was determined that tonight would be a good memory for her wife and not one overshadowed by who was missing. _You're here in our hearts, Mrs. Stewart. You always are._ Lilly swallowed and willed her tears to not start. "Let's go, sweetheart," she said as she smiled. "Time for our pre-prom lunch."

The two of them grabbed Lilly's dress and shoes, still in their respective garment bag and box, and hurried over to the Truscott house. Ron was working today, and Lilly's father was working in his office this morning, so it would just be the three women having lunch today. As Miley rang the doorbell, Lilly quietly held her hand, smiling happily. Miley found it telling that as soon as the two of them returned to Malibu following their honeymoon, Lilly had stopped just walking into her parents' house. Now she rang the doorbell and waited unless no one was at home. Miley recognized Lilly's behavior without her wife having to explain it: this was no longer their house. As a married couple, they had begun their own family, and that meant making their own home. They had already spoken with Robbie Ray about either buying the house they now lived in from him or simply transferring the ownership to the two of them, but he had persuaded them to wait, preferably until they were twenty-one.

Robbie Ray had seen that they were trying to find their own way as a young couple, but he wanted them to understand that making your own way in life didn't always mean taking the hard way. He wanted them to focus on getting used to being with each other more of the time, finishing school, starting college and settling into young adulthood before they took all the additional burdens of owning and maintaining a house onto their shoulders as well. While there was some initial disagreement on his daughter's part, after a few days Miley came to realize that her father was right. It was still early in their lives, and this was the time to enjoy being in love and alive.

The opening of the door broke Miley's reminiscence "Lilly! Miley!" Meredith Truscott said happily. "It is so good to see my daughters again!" she said as she leaned forward and hugged the two of them at once. She stepped back and looked at the two young women standing before her. It seemed like they had grown up overnight to Meredith. Lilly had gone from being a small tomboy with dirt on her face to a beautiful, sunny young woman whose lean muscles and strong arms hinted at the surprising strength and athletic skill inside her. Miley had filled out the tall, thin frame of her early teenage years to become a stunning woman with charisma, confidence, amazing legs and a rear end that most women would kill for. But one thing that hadn't changed in the two young women was the happiness evident on their faces and in their matching blue eyes. If Meredith had ever carried any doubts about the two of them being the perfect matches for each other, just taking in the looks they gave each other would be enough to convince almost anyone. Meredith smiled, pleased with the choices that her daughter and her wife had made so far in their lives. "You two are so beautiful," she said, getting bigger smiles and another hug from the two of them. "Come in, please. The lasagna is ready; I just took it out of the oven."

As Miley and Lilly stepped inside and Meredith closed the door behind them, they appreciatively sniffed the air, savoring the aroma of fresh lasagna. When Miley saw the table hadn't been set yet, she nudged Lilly and began getting plates and silverware. Lilly immediately moved to fix them something to drink, pausing only to ask her mother, "What do you want, Mom?"

"Water's fine with me, dear." She began slicing the lasagna as she continued talking. "Are you girls ready for your big night tonight?"

Lilly and Miley glanced at each other and couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, we're ready, Mrs. Truscott," Miley said. "Got our dresses, got our shoes, got our afterparty picked out..." She paused, trying to think if she had left anything out.

Lilly broke in after a few seconds, saying, "Got who we're sleeping with picked out!" and drawing a playful kick from Miley for her attempt at humor.

"Well," her mother said, "I suppose being married will cut down on the number of boys trying to get lucky with you two tonight."

Lilly's mouth dropped open at her mother's comment, which made Miley laugh loudly. "Mrs. Truscott, you are SO bad!" she said, still laughing. "But yeah, you're right. I don't expect anyone is going to be stupid enough to try to hit on either of us."

"And definitely not twice," Lilly said in a low voice. "Hard to try to pick up a girl with a broken nose."

Miley hugged Lilly from behind as they sat down at the table now that it was set. "That's one of the things I love about you, Lil," she said. "Always quick to defend my honor." She kissed Lilly on the cheek, sparking a grin on Lilly's face.

"You know it, Miles," Lilly said, taking Miley's hand as she sat on the bench beside her. "You yourself said I was your knight a long time ago."

"Dame," her mother said, drawing stares from both girls.

"What?" Lilly said. "Did you just cuss, Mom?" she asked incredulously.

Miley snorted and then coughed her food into a napkin after getting choked on it, trying to be discreet about it but not doing a very good job. As Lilly firmly patted Miley's back, Meredith was trying not to get choked herself, finally finding her voice again. "No, Lilly, the English call a female knight a Dame. That's the proper title. I mean, referring to a lady as 'Sir' would sound a bit odd."

Lilly pondered that for a few seconds, then wrinkled her nose and said, "Ew. I like knight better." She turned to Miley and asked, "Can I still be your knight?" with total sincerity.

Miley smiled and gently put her fingers under Lilly's chin in a loving gesture. "Honey, you can always be my knight," she said tenderly. "You're my everything."

"Aww," Lilly said. "I love you so much. How did I ever find you again?"

"Just got lucky, I guess."

"Girls," Meredith said gently, "the lasagna's getting cold. Go ahead and eat up." Watching the two of them gave her a sense of happiness that all parents long for. She knew that her daughter would be loved, cherished and cared for from now on, by someone whom Lilly loved just as much in return. That was the ultimate goal for every parent, and she knew how lucky her daughter was to have found that. Now there was just one to go.

As if on cue, Miley asked, "How's Ron doing, Mrs. Truscott?"

Meredith smiled as she said, "He's doing quite well, Miley. He seems to be rather taken with your cousin still. The two of them talk online almost every night, and they call each other several times a week."

"I'm so happy for Ron," Lilly said around a bite of lasagna. "And I'm happy for Luanne too. As much as I gave them a hard time in the beginning, they really have been great for each other."

"Yes," Meredith said, turning to look a picture of her son and his girlfriend hanging on the refrigerator. It echoed a picture she still had of Lilly and Miley playing on the beach, hair dripping from splashing each other but smiling as they held each other tightly in the surf. The picture of Ron and Luanne had Ron holding Luanne from behind, his arms crossing in front of her chest and her hands resting on his as they looked into the camera while laughing. The dusk sky was evident behind them, and the smiles on their faces told the story of how good they had been for each other much better than words could. Meredith suspected that before long she'd be welcoming another daughter-in-law to her family.

When everyone was done with lunch, the three of them went into the living room to watch the latest news. Only a fleeting mention was made of Hannah debuting some new songs from her upcoming album earlier in the week, but that was enough to stir the interest of Lilly's mother. "Are you excited about the new album, Miley?" Meredith asked.

Miley nodded, then she said, "Absolutely. The first single is going to be the song Lilly and I wrote together, one called 'When I'm With You'."

Meredith spun in her seat to look at her daughter. "You helped Miley write a song, Lillian? That's wonderful!"

Lilly turned a bit red, but before she could speak Miley said, "I think it's the best song on the album, Mrs. Truscott." Lilly laughed suddenly, drawing a look from both her mother and her wife. "What?" Miley asked.

Lilly grinned. "I just realized that every one of us here is 'Mrs. Truscott'. That's cool!" She looked around and saw that everyone was still looking at her, prompting her to clear her throat and say, "Carry on."

Miley was still smiling at her wife's outburst, but she turned back to her mother-in-law and said, "Like I was saying before I was rudely interrupted," getting her a smack on the thigh from Lilly, "I think it's the best song on the album. I tried to get Lilly to sing it with me as a duet, but she didn't really want to."

"Your music is absolutely beautiful as it is, sweetheart, and your voice is perfect. My singing would kind of ruin that." Lilly smiled as she and Miley looked at each other. "Unless, of course..."

"Oh no, don't you say it, Truscott!" Miley interjected.

"...you _remixed_ me!" Lilly finished with glee. "That'd work, huh?" she said as she playfully poked Miley's ribs, getting a yelp from her wife.

"I think I learned my lesson from that one time, Lilly Bear. Not gonna make that mistake again. But your voice has gotten much better since then."

"That's because I have the best singer in the world giving me private lessons," Lilly said as she turned around on the couch, resting her head in Miley's lap.

An evil grin appeared on Miley's face, then she said, "I love giving you private lessons." She looked over at Meredith and added, "And sometimes I help her with her singing too." A fluffy pillow bopped Miley in the side of the head immediately, quelling any further scandalous comments made to Lilly's mother.

"You're gonna traumatize my mom, Miley!" Lilly said as she drew back for a second blow, but she held her swing.

Miley grabbed her own pillow and interposed it between her head and Lilly's weapon of choice. "I think we already did all we could on that front, Lilly. Remember when she walked in on us that first time?"

"Well, at least we were under the covers," Lilly replied. "How about the time she caught us in the shower?"

Meredith raised a hand, index finger pointing upward. "Well, I didn't so much catch you as hear you."

Miley laughed. "Yeah, I bet you could hear, 'Oh Miley! Oh yes, Miley! Right there, please!' all over the house!" She easily blocked Lilly's swinging pillow but completely missed Lilly's other hand moving in for a good tickle of the ribs, jerking away and dropping her shield in a futile attempt to get out of the way. "Oh no! Lilly! Don't you dare!"

Lilly swung at Miley's head, but at the last second she checked her swing, only lightly tapping Miley's head. "I can't be too embarrassed about loving you," she said as she moved to sit, straddling Miley where she sat so that the two of them were facing each other closely. She draped her arms across Miley's shoulders and lightly laced her fingers together behind Miley's neck. "And Mom pretty much was onto us from the beginning when it came to us making love. You had me walking on air for days, Miles."

Miley gripped Lilly by the hips as she pulled her closer so that they could kiss. "Same here, lover. In fact, I don't think I've come down yet."

"Good. My plan's working then."

"And what's that plan?"

"To make you the happiest woman on earth." Lilly gave Miley another kiss to punctuate her declaration. "How'm I doing so far?"

Miley's smile was dazzling as she looked into Lilly's eyes, twinkling with desire. "Pretty darn good, Truscott. Pretty darn good."

A sudden flash of light startled both girls, and they turned to see Meredith taking another picture of the two of them. Both of them were blinking their eyes from the second burst of light, but they were still smiling.

"I just thought you two were so adorable, sitting there whispering sweet nothings to each other!" Meredith said. "So I wanted to make sure I had a picture or two." She looked at the back of the camera. "Oh, those are perfect!"

"Can we see?" Lilly said, leaning over but not getting up from where she had Miley pinned down. Meredith sat down beside them and showed them the pictures. "Oh, those _are_ great! E-mail them to us later tonight?"

Meredith put the camera down on the coffee table. "Of course, Lillian." She patted Miley on the right shoulder. "Miley, I just want to tell you again that you've made my little girl happier than I ever could have imagined." Tears began to form in her eyes as she continued. "Thank you for coming into our lives."

Miley smiled and covered her mother-in-law's hand with her left hand. "Thank you for raising such a terrific daughter. And thank you for accepting us right away."

"Oh Miley," Meredith said, "what fool couldn't see how much the two of you loved each other? I mean, you somehow got Lillian in a cheerleading outfit, for heaven's sakes!"

Miley and Lilly glanced at each other surreptitiously. They both silently agreed it would be best to not mention Lilly wearing that same cheerleading outfit, now with the skirt a bit shorter and the top significantly more revealing—and nothing else—to bed earlier in the week. Lilly cleared her throat and found her voice first. "Wow, look at the time!" she said as she turned to look at the clock, then she turned back around to look down at Miley. "We probably ought to get started getting ready, honey."

Miley and Lilly stood together. They walked to the door, where Miley turned to look at Lilly. "Wow," Miley said with a laugh, "been a long time since I gave you a goodbye hug and left you here."

Lilly smiled. "But this goodbye only lasts for a few hours," she said softly. She stepped forward and wrapped Miley in her embrace suddenly, claiming a deep kiss just a second later. As their heads pulled apart slightly, Lilly whispered, "And remember... I'm never away from you in here," tapping Miley gently on her chest.

Miley closed her eyes and leaned forward until their foreheads touched, still gazing into Lilly's blue eyes. "I know," she said. "See you in a bit, girlfriend." She stepped out the door and called out, "Bye, Mrs. Truscott!" As Lilly's mother answered, Miley stepped out the door and gently closed it. After pausing for three seconds, she turned and began the walk back to their home.

As Miley walked, she felt the sadness at leaving Lilly be slowly replaced by anticipation of tonight. When she reached their front door, she opened it, revealing Kaela and Jackson making out on the couch. "Oh yeah!" she yelled, startling her brother and sister-in-law. "Now who's caught making out?" she yelled happily as she ran over to the couch, grabbed Jackson's shirt and smacked his butt. As he scrambled off Kaela and ran around the couch, Miley broke into a full run toward the stairs. As she charged up the stairs, Jackson lunged upward and forward, catching her ankle and sending Miley sprawling forward. As Miley fell, she bumped into the small table in the corner at the top of the steps, sending the vase of flowers atop it into a dangerous wobble for a few seconds, then it toppled over. As it fell, Miley managed to catch it with her free hand and the water and flowers in it with her face. As she blinked the water out of her eyes and screamed, "JACKSON!!" she realized that standing directly in front of her was her father, an expression somewhere between amusement and surprise on his face. "Hi Daddy," Miley said, the tone of her voice doing a remarkable turnaround.

Robbie Ray continued to look at the scene in front of him for long moments. Finally he said, "I'm _sure_ that there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this... whatever it is."

Miley and Jackson both started talking at the same time as Kaela reached the foot of the stairs and started laughing at her view of things.

"Dad, Miley was--"

"I saved the vase Da--"

Robbie Ray's hand coming up silenced both his children and reduced Kaela's laughter to a snicker. "And I'm just as sure that I really don't want to hear that perfectly reasonable explanation." He fought with all his willpower to keep a straight face as he walked past them and slowly made his way down the stairs. He knew if he made eye contact with Kaela that he'd lose his composure and laugh uncontrollably, so he settled for patting her on the shoulder as he passed her. "He like this at home?" he asked over his shoulder.

Kaela similarly fought to keep from laughing until she said, "Sometimes he's worse!" and fell upon Jackson, pinching his legs mercilessly much to Miley's delight.

Robbie Ray just shook his head as he walked into the kitchen. "Try not to tear the house down!" he said, smiling broadly.

After the tussle resolved itself, Miley and Kaela retreated to her room to begin getting ready. As Miley stepped into the Hannah and Lola closet, Kaela looked inside and said, "That is too cool, Miley."

Miley smiled and turned. "Yeah, I know," she said with a grin. "Now, I need to get in the shower and get cleaned off." She left the closet, walking past Kaela as she went back into her and Lilly's room. She opened a drawer in their dresser and chewed her lip for a moment. "Decisions, decisions," she muttered as she looked at the underwear drawer. She started to move a few pairs of bras and panties around when a flash of white paper caught her eye. She smiled, knowing who the note had to be from. She found the tiny slip of paper tucked halfway into a lone black bra and g-string. "Oh, you are so bad, Lilly," she said softly, only to jump when Kaela's head peeked over her left shoulder. "AH!" she yelled.

"Sorry," said Kaela before her attention was drawn to what Miley was holding in her hands. "Whoa! Someone's getting lucky tonight!" She reached forward to admire the g-string only to have Miley snatch it away, a smile on her face.

"Uh uh, Kae, nobody but Lilly touches these. Sorry."

Kaela grinned at the blush creeping along Miley's cheeks. "It's okay." The slip of paper caught her attention as Miley unfolded it and read.

_Hey Miley,_

_Bet you were trying to decide what to wear tonight, huh? Well, _

_I've helped you decide. You'll have to search for the matching set, though._

_It might take a strip search. _

_Love you,_

_Your Lil_

"I don't believe it," Kaela said softly, still peering over Miley's shoulder. "She write you notes like that all the time?"

Miley said, "Uh huh" just as softly, admiring the little heart over the _i _in Lilly's name.

"Judgin' from the set of undies Lilly picked out and that note, I think you two are gonna get wild tonight!" Kaela said gleefully.

Miley smiled. "I think that's a safe bet, Kae." She then flipped the note over and was rewarded by seeing more writing.

_P.S. If Kaela is reading this, then before she starts giving you_

_a hard time, remind her that she forgot to put up her Bad Girl_

_outfit that time we went to see them in Knoxville. I still have pictures._

_Love you!_

_LT_

"Oh that little shit," Kaela said under her breath, triggering laughter from Miley.

Miley spun, a positively wicked smile on her face. "Don't worry, Kae, we haven't said anything. Or shown anyone those pictures."

"Good thing," Kaela said, smiling despite her attempts to maintain a stoic face.

Miley walked to the bathroom, taking off her shirt and jeans along the way and tossing them in the laundry hamper. As she went into the bathroom, she turned and pulled the door partly closed. As she peeked out around the barely closed door, she said, "So were the handcuffs and chain on the belt just for show or did they see some use?" She quickly closed the door before Kaela's house shoe hit it.

Down the block Lilly was stepping out of the shower. She quickly dried off and liberally applied her Secret Solid, wondering if it would keep her back from sweating too if she could somehow manage to rub it on back there. She wrapped her hair in a towel and stepped out of the bathroom she and Miley had shared many times.

The sudden flash of light surprised her, nearly making her drop her towel. "Hey!" she yelled, blinking the stars out of her eyes.

"Oh, Lillian! It's just a picture," her mother said.

"Of me nearly naked!" Lilly yelled.

Meredith smiled. "Then I guess I'll have to save it for Miley and me, then, hm?" she said with her own smug smile.

Lilly tried to think of a witty riposte, but she came up empty. "Okay, you got me with that one," she said right before she started laughing. Her mother started laughing as well, and when Lilly walked over to her with her arms stretched forward, Meredith reached out to hug her daughter.

"Ah ha!" Lilly said, snatching the digital camera from her mother's hand. "Gotcha!" she cried as she hurried past her mother and into her old room, closing the door behind her. She sat down on the neatly made bed and turned the camera over to find the memory card slot... empty. A knock on the door made her look up.

"Lillian?" her mother's voice called from beyond the closed door. "The camera won't work very well without this memory card."

Lilly smacked herself on the forehead with the heel of her left hand. Her mother was learning.

An hour later, Miley was sitting in front of her mirror, fixing her hair. The prom was less than an hour away now, and she was very nervous. "This is dumb," she said more to herself than to Kaela, who was fussing over her dress.

"What is?"

"Me being nervous. I mean, this is Lilly. My wife. The woman I've loved for years and know better than I know myself. Why am I nervous?" She let her hands drop to her sides in exasperation.

Kaela walked over to her and patted her on the back. "Because you want everything to be perfect," she said gently. "I remember last year, believe me."

Miley turned to look at her sister-in-law. "You looked amazing in that dress," she said with a smile.

"And you're going to look amazing in yours. Just try to relax."

Miley began working with her hair again, finally getting it where she liked it. Tonight her hair was its natural curly self, falling halfway down her back. Kaela handed her the red dress, its tiny scales already reflecting the light in unusual ways. Miley slid the dress on, its tiny shoulder straps falling into place as it settled along her body. Once the back was zipped, the dress clung to her figure, giving her shapely body clear definition under the brilliant fabric. Its top fell right at the top of her breasts, revealing only a hint of cleavage. The skirt came to her knees, a golden hem along its distant edge. Long golden earrings that Lilly had given her for Christmas went on next, then Miley opened a drawer in her dresser and removed a small velvet box.

"What's in that?" Kaela asked, quite curious.

Miley smiled and looked at Kaela as she lifted the lid off the box. She pulled out a small charm bracelet and handed it to the redhead. "Mind to put it on for me?" she asked as she extended her left arm.

Kaela looked at the assortment of tiny charms on it, finally seeing five letters spelling out a name: _Lilly_. "This is Lilly's?"

Miley nodded as Kaela fastened it around her wrist, then she lifted her arm and admired it. "This was the first gift Lilly ever gave me. It was the day we met, my first day at Seaview Middle School." Even now, those memories gave Miley a warm feeling deep in her heart. _Even then, we loved each other. Not in the way we would later, not at first, but those feelings were already there, deep inside us. They always have been, even before we ever met. We were meant to be, Lilly._

In the Truscott house, Lilly looked in the mirror as her mother zipped up the back of her dress. "Wow," she said, admiring the delicate sparkles in the fabric of her dress. This had been one of the hardest dresses to make, as the sparkles were truly sewn inside the fabric, underneath a nearly invisible filmy layer. The effect was unique, readily different than sequins or appliqués, and it truly made the dress spectacular. The skirt fell below Lilly's knees to just above the middle of her muscular calves, and the front split into a V as it rose up to her shoulders. With a larger bust, the amount of cleavage visible would be dramatic, but Lilly's figure had always been slim. On her modest chest, the dress still showed a significant amount of cleavage but more prominent was her toned chest and strong shoulders, leaving no doubt as to how good her physical condition was. Like Miley's dress, the straps became spaghetti-thin at the shoulders, but the back of Lilly's dress was cut in a bolder plunge than her wife's. Most of Lilly's toned back would be on display tonight, covered only by her silky blonde hair. The lowest portion of the plunging back fell nearly to the crest of her hips, revealing clearly that Lilly had no tattoos on her lower back.

As Lilly turned back and forth, moving her hair out of the way, her mother's eyes grew large. "Lillian, isn't that dress a bit--"

"Perfect!" Lilly said with a smile. She turned to her mother, seeing the look of concern on her face. "Something the matter, Mom?"

Meredith's mouth worked for a second or two before words emerged. "Well, Lillian, it's just... Isn't it a bit too revealing?"

Lilly held up her hands in a look of frustration. "Mom. It's for Miley. My _wife_. She _has_ seen me naked, you know."

"Yes, well, but the rest of the school hasn't. Not yet, at least." Meredith didn't want to push Lilly on this, but it was definitely different from how her daughter usually dressed, even for Miley.

Lilly turned to look in the mirror again, twisting to look at her back. "I'm not naked, Mom. The back is just a bit... daring."

Meredith thought for a minute before saying, "That's a very good word for it. Daring." _Just like my daughter. Surfing, skateboarding, falling in love with and marrying her best friend, building a career as an actress... Yes, that's just like her. And I couldn't be more proud of her._ Tears formed in Meredith's eyes as she turned Lilly around and hugged her.

"Uh, Mom, if it really upsets you that much--"

"Hush," Meredith said softly. "It doesn't upset me at all. I was just thinking that this dress fits you perfectly, Lilly. It's daring but still beautiful." She held Lilly tightly, finally saying, "I'm so proud of you, Lilly. The choices you've made, the risks you've taken in life, the friends you've chosen... they all reflect who you've become. And I couldn't be more proud of that young woman."

Lilly fought back tears herself as she shook listening to her mother's words. Finally she was able to simply say, "Thanks, Mom. Thanks for helping me grow into that young woman." They held each other for long minutes, each enjoying the other's embrace. "Okay," Lilly eventually said, "I need to wash my face." She stepped down the hall and went into the bathroom, where Meredith could hear water running briefly.

As Meredith looked at the dresser that used to be her daughter's, she saw a pair of diamond earrings. Miley had gotten those for Lilly this past Christmas, each earring a small cascade of three diamonds. Meredith picked them up and turned them over in her hand, admiring the way each diamond caught the light in a dazzling manner. As Lilly walked back into the room, Meredith handed them to her daughter with a smile.

"Thanks, Mom," Lilly said as she took one and put it on, following it with the second. She added lip gloss but no other makeup, finally taking one last look in the mirror. "Okay," she said appreciatively. "I think I'm ready."

"You look like a movie star, Lilly," her mother said with a proud smile on her face. "Something out of the days when that meant class and elegance."

"Thanks," Lilly said, then she had a sudden realization. "You called me Lilly!" she said as she turned. "I've tried to get you to call me that for years, but you-- You just did it!" Lilly thought, then she added, "And you've been doing it these last few minutes!"

Meredith hugged her daughter again. "It just felt right," she said. "Now don't get us started crying again."

Lilly smiled as she released her mother. "Okay," she said. "And thank you. For everything."

Meredith patted Lilly's cheek. "You're welcome, dear. And don't forget your corsage for Miley, it's in the refrigerator." She looked at her watch. "You need to get going so you're not late picking her up."

Lilly looked at the clock and agreed. "Love you," she said as she placed a kiss on her mother's cheek, grabbed her shoes and then hurried out the bedroom door and down the stairs, pausing only for one last picture.

As the clock ticked away, Miley paced until Kaela forcibly placed her on the couch. Robbie Ray took a picture of Miley in her dress and then one of Miley, Jackson and Kaela. The ringing of the doorbell made Miley jump and sent her heart into overdrive. "Is my hair okay?" she asked Kaela.

"Miley. Your hair is fine. Your dress is gorgeous. You look beautiful."

Miley smiled. "Thanks, Kaela." She saw her father head for the door but ran to beat him there. She jerked the door open and lost her breath when she saw how beautiful Lilly looked. "Oh Lilly..."

Lilly was likewise dumbstruck by Miley's appearance. She couldn't even get words out and could only stand there staring at her wife for long seconds. Finally, she rasped out, "Miley, you look unbelievably hot!"

Miley grinned at Lilly's honesty. "So do you, lover." She leaned forward, claiming a kiss that lasted several delicious seconds. As they pulled apart, Miley licked her lips as Lilly did the same. "You taste good, lover."

"Mmm, so do you, Miles. Oh! This is for you." Lilly handed Miley the fresh corsage, helping her slip it on her wrist. But she stopped when she saw what was already on her wrist. "Miley! Is that my old charm bracelet?"

Miley couldn't hide the toothy grin that sprang to her face. "Yup," she said. "Found it when we cleaned out the drawers a few months ago. I've been hiding it until now."

"You sneak," Lilly said playfully. She tossed the corsage to Kaela. "No point in putting this on your wrist now."

Miley smiled. She hadn't been looking forward to wearing the corsage anyway. Flowers were pretty to look at and smell, but wearing them for several hours wasn't high on Miley's list. She already knew most of the flowers she was allergic too, but she was never keen on finding a new one. "Oh well," she said, looking rather content. She put her arms around Lilly's neck, pulling her close again. "I got you one too, but it might look funny if you wore one and I didn't. So why don't you just leave yours here?"

Lilly rested her head on Miley's left shoulder, feeling the heat of her wife's body through the textured fabric of their dresses. "Okay hon," she said peacefully. She then looked up into Miley's sparking blue eyes. "Was that the plan all along?"

Miley's eyes danced as she hesitated. Finally she said, "I'll never tell," sticking her tongue out at the end.

"Oh yes you will," said Lilly, sliding her hands down Miley's back. "Eventually."

The flashes of cameras interrupted the talk as Robbie Ray and Kaela snapped several pictures each. Finally, with each girl's eyes flashing, the blasts of light mercifully ceased.

"Did you get enough?" Miley said loudly. "I can still see a bit outta my right eye!"

Lilly blinked repeatedly. "Whoa, my mom was bad enough, but we get it here too!" She fumbled for Miley's hand, finally locating it. "Okay, girlfriend, time for the big dance!"

They started for the door but stopped to hug Kaela, Jackson and then Robbie Ray. As the girls both held Robbie Ray, he said, "You two look prettier 'n a June sunrise," squeezing them both tightly.

"Thanks, Daddy," Miley said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks, Mr. Stewart," Lilly echoed, kissing the other cheek.

"You two going anywhere after the prom tonight?" he asked.

"Probably over to Ashley's. She's having a party for some of us," Miley said.

"With those awesome little pastry thingies her mom makes!" Lilly added gleefully, getting chuckles from around the room.

"Well, I know you two won't be drinkin', but watch out for folks who are. Especially those fools who're drivin' that way."

"We will," Lilly said. "And we'll be super careful on the road tonight. We promise."

"Be careful," Robbie Ray said. As the two young women went out the door to the garage, he called out, "And have fun!"

As they reached their Tesla Roadster, Lilly opened the passenger door for Miley. Miley smiled and said, "Thanks," as she slid into the leather seat. Lilly walked around the front of the car, grabbing the door after Miley opened it from the inside and pushed it open. She fell into the driver's seat, looking at the amazingly beautiful woman sitting next to her before giving Miley a lingering kiss. Miley's fingers gently held Lilly's head in place as they kissed, only reluctantly releasing her as they finished. "You look so amazing, Lilly," Miley said, her voice slightly breathless.

"You too, Miles," Lilly responded, equally short of breath. "You ready to rock this?" she asked with a smile as she started the car.

"Like never before," Miley replied. "Let's see what the night brings us."

"As long as we're together, the night doesn't stand a chance," Lilly said with a happy laugh as they pulled onto the road and sped off toward the school.

**Author's Afterword:** Alright, I really meant for this chapter to get into the Prom itself, but the story had other ideas. That does work out well, though, because I expect the Prom alone will run about this chapter's length. Who's bringing whom to the Prom? Oliver and Ashley are a lock, but are there any other couples we might recognize? Maybe...

I promise I'll get the next chapter done as soon as I possibly can. And the new house is great, now that I have a cable line. Thanks to everyone for asking! Hope everyone is doing well, and I'll see you soon.

-- Jo --


	6. Chapter 6: Follow You Down

**Author's Note:** Time for Prom! I hope everyone has their dresses and tuxes, because it's time to dance! Thanks to all my readers for their sweet words and reviews; hearing those positive comments makes the words flow much more easily for any author. To those who are relative newcomers to my stories or to our fabulous Liley community, welcome! I think you'll find that all of us are very friendly and supportive of each other, largely because we're all romantics at heart who draw strength from the clear, beautiful love between Miley and Lilly. Some of the best authors I've ever read—overall, not just fanfic—are in our community, and we're proud of all of them. Make sure to look at my Favorites and check them out!

Here are my standard disclaimers: I make no claims on any of Disney's, Miley Cyrus', Emily Osment's or Hannah Montana's trademarks or copyrights, and no infringement is intended. Be forewarned that this story most certainly will contain femslash. If love and affection between two consenting young adults of the same sex bothers you, I suggest you turn right around and find something else to read. Keep any flames to yourself and remember that what our world needs now is more love and acceptance, not more hate. Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated!

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 6: Follow You Down

_Second chances they don't matter_

_People never change_

_Once a whore, you're nothing more_

_I'm sorry, that'll never change_

_And about forgiveness_

_We're both supposed to act ashamed_

_Sorry honey but I'm past that_

_Now look this way_

--Paramore;"Misery Business"

As Lilly and Miley pulled into the school, they noticed that the parking places closest to the school had been closed off, apparently to allow limousines and other chauffeured cars to drop their passengers off close to the building. "You don't mind to walk, do you?" Lilly asked Miley.

"Not as long as you're with me," Miley answered. She turned to look at Lilly as she said, "And don't even ask to drop me off up here, Lil. We walk together, even if you have to park all the way at the back of the lot."

Lilly grinned as she turned the steering wheel to the left and eased away from the front of the school. As they passed the cars parked in the faculty lot at the very front, Lilly laughed. "Is that Oliver's truck?" she said, not believing what her eyes were showing her.

Miley leaned forward, a similar smile on her face. "Oh my gosh, it is!" She turned to look at Lilly, who had stopped next to Oliver's weathered pickup. He liked to refer to it as "thoroughly broken in," but it still ran fairly well despite its age and mileage. "Do you really think he brought Ashley here in that thing?" she asked her wife, who was leaning across the car to get a better look out Miley's window.

"He had to," Lilly replied. "She would've ridden with him no matter what he drove, and he's the only one who'll drive that thing." She turned to look in front of her and slowly started forward again. "How did he get permission to park up front in the faculty lot?"

Miley shrugged. "It's Oliver. He probably knows whoever was making the parking signs for tonight or something. Or maybe somebody in Student Affairs who could get him a parking pass."

"That's true," Lilly said as they reached the student parking section. "Wow, lots of people already here."

Miley laughed. "That's because we're late, Lilly."

"Not by much!" Lilly said quickly as she drove to the far side of the student parking area. "Just a few minutes. We're fashionably late."

Miley popped her seat belt and leaned over to quickly kiss Lilly on the cheek, then she sat back down and fastened the seat belt again. "I love you, Lil," she said brightly. "Even if we are fashionably late."

As Lilly pulled into an open parking place, she smiled. She put the Roadster in park and then switched off the engine. She turned to Miley and said, "Love you too, Miles. Even if you make me fashionably late."

Miley faked surprise as she opened the door and got out of the car, Lilly mirroring her actions. "Oh no, Truscott," Miley said, "don't you try to blame this on me! You're the one who had run to the bathroom and pee when we were ready to leave!"

Lilly met Miley at the back of the car and placed her hands on her hips as she leaned forward. "Wouldja rather I peed on myself on the way down here?" She got a bit quieter and her face became more serious as she said with a softer voice, "Plus it wasn't just having to pee." She looked down as Miley thought for a moment about her comment.

"Oh honey, is it that bad?" Miley said as she realized what Lilly was talking about. She stepped forward and gently placed her right hand on Lilly's left arm, the skin warm underneath her fingertips.

Lilly nodded as she stepped closer to Miley, letting Miley wrap her arms around her. "Been hurting for an hour now," she said. "Wanted to make sure I was prepared."

Miley rubbed Lilly's back briskly as she held her wife. "You think you're gonna start tonight?" she said gently.

"Haven't yet," Lilly replied as she now hugged Miley in return. "But I'm going to start anytime." She looked up and gave Miley a knowing smile. "And that means you better be prepared too."

Miley smiled as she took a step back from Lilly and held out her right hand. "You thinking of me, sweetheart?"

"Always," Lilly said as she handed Miley a Playtex Gentle Glide. "Just in case you start early too. Not exactly like we're wearing the most protective panties," she said with a grin.

Miley slipped the pink wrapped object into her slim clutch purse. "No, but they sure as heck make me hot for you," she said as she looked at Lilly. "Just thinking about you wearing them--" Lilly's fingers against Miley's lips abruptly stopped her mid-sentence.

"We're not doing anything here at the school, Miles, and we both know it. So let's not get ourselves all worked up just yet." Lilly stopped walking and pulled Miley close for a kiss, getting a honk from a car pulling into the parking lot. However, once their lips touched, the rest of the world faded away, leaving nothing but the two of them in their own world for a few seconds. As they finished the kiss, Lilly breathily said, "I want to spend tonight with the most beautiful woman in this school, I want to dance with her and have my picture taken with her, I want to go with her to a party after the prom for a little bit, then I want to take her back to the suite we rented at the Malibu Beach Inn and make love to her all night."

Miley had goosebumps all over her body as she listened to Lilly talk to her with her sultry voice. She couldn't help but shiver as Lilly finished and held her tightly. She managed to find her voice and said, "That works for me." They stood in the parking lot for a minute longer, eyes closed, just holding each other tightly as they both fought to control the building desire to touch each other intimately. Miley finally whispered, "When we get in that hotel room, I'm gonna rock your world, Lilly Bear."

This time it was Lilly who shuddered from Miley's words. "I am SO looking forward to making love to you tonight, Miley," she whispered against Miley's warm neck. "Now let's get in there so I can dance with you, girlfriend."

"Okay," Miley said with a smile as she turned and led Lilly to the front door of the school. As they approached the school they saw several of their classmates walk inside, accompanied by their dates. They reached the main doors and went in together through the open double doors. Two of their teachers were sitting at a table just inside the door, tallying a list of students attending tonight. Miley and Lilly stopped at the end of the short line, but in less than a minute they were at the table.

"Well, don't you two ladies look stunning tonight!" said Ms. Hughes, one of the newest teachers at Seaview. Her short red hair and petite frame made her look like she was still in high school herself, much to the delight of several boys in the school. She had only been at the school for two weeks, brought in when another teacher retired during the school year.

Lilly grinned as she leaned in close to Miley and said, "Thanks, Ms. Hughes. How'd you get stuck with Prom duty?" Miley signed their names on the register as Lilly spoke.

"New teachers get Prom duty," the redhead said. She looked at the register where Miley had signed their names. "Oh, are you two sisters?" she said as she saw they shared the last name Truscott.

"Um... no," said Miley. "We're married."

Ms. Hughes looked stunned for a moment, but before she could say anything, a male voice said, "These are Seaview's lovebirds, Ms. Hughes!"

Miley and Lilly turned to see Mr. Corelli standing behind them. "Mr. Corelli!" Lilly said as she and Miley hugged him. "You're wearing a tux!"

"And it looks snazzy!" Miley added as she looked at his outfit.

"Why, thank you, ladies!" he said. He looked like he had lost some weight, making the tuxedo fit a bit better. "You miss me this past week?"

"We sure did," Lilly said with a grimace. "Mr. Headrick."

"Ugh," Mr. Corelli said. "Well, I'm back now. Had the flu, but I'm doing a lot better." He stepped forward and said, "Ms. Hughes, let me introduce you to Miley and Lilly Truscott. They're the only married couple currently attending Seaview, and they are something else." He stepped around the table to stand next to Ms. Hughes; as he did so, Miley and Lilly linked hands again. "I don't think I've ever seen two people more in love than they are," he added sincerely.

"Aww, thanks Mr. Corelli!" Lilly said. "We're so glad you're back!"

"Yeah, you're not allowed to get sick any more while we're still here," Miley said with a laugh.

"Deal," he said. "Now get on in there if you want your pictures taken before the band gets finished setting up."

Lilly stepped forward with Miley right beside her. "See you two later," Lilly said as they walked across the lobby. As they reached the gymnasium doors, she and Miley saw that the photographers were set up across the dance floor. "Pictures!" Lilly said, her excitement drowning out the cramps in her lower abdomen. "Come on, Miles!" She started across the open space before Miley tugged on her arm, nearly turning her around abruptly. "What?"

Miley fought to keep a grin off her face, only partially succeeding. "Lilly, we have plenty of time to get our pictures made, sweetheart. Let's not rush through this, okay?"

Lilly smiled sheepishly. "Sorry Miles. I'm just really wanting to-- I mean, I want to do everything with you tonight, because this is it, our Senior Prom!"

Miley leaned in, close enough to whisper in Lilly's ear. "Lover, we are definitely going to do everything tonight, and I do mean _everything_, but right now, let's just slow down, enjoy this dance, and appreciate everything we went through to get here tonight."

Lilly's eyes gleamed as she looked at her wife with adoration. "That was beautiful," she said. "Let's dance."

As they stepped into the gymnasium, they noticed a multitude of what looked like clouds suspended from the rafters. The gym floor was partly concealed by wisps of fog at ground level, and most of the lights had been covered with opaque filters, giving them a glowing quality. A large banner just inside the gym proclaimed tonight's theme to be "Heaven on Earth," and almost all the decorations fit the theme with colors of white, gold and silver. As the two young women walked to the dance floor, they giggled at how their feet seemed to disappear as the fog grew thicker on the dance floor. As they turned to face each other, Miley put her arms around Lilly's waist while Lilly rested her arms on Miley's shoulders, joining her hands behind Miley's neck. As they started to dance, the DJ began playing Hannah Montana's "Let's Dance."

"Is that a sign or what?' Miley said with a smile as they began to slowly dance. As the first chorus finished, Lilly tugged Miley slightly off balance, making her stumble slightly. "What'd ya do that for, Lil?" Miley asked, as she knew Lilly's body language well enough to tell that Lilly had done that deliberately.

Lilly smiled sweetly as she leaned into Miley, close enough to whisper, "You and I were doing Hannah's dance steps for that song, Miles. Perfectly, I might add."

Miley glanced around and saw several people looking at the two of them strangely. "Oops," she said softly, showing an embarrassed grin. "Sorry, hon. It's sorta a reflex for me, I guess."

Lilly's own smile only grew in intensity as she looked deeply into Miley's sparkling blue eyes. "I know," she said tenderly. "But we need to give them something else to think about now before anyone gets too suspicious." Lilly then lifted her head just enough to capture Miley's lips in what was planned as a soft kiss but quickly grew into more.

They deepened the kiss without any conscious thought until a familiar male voice behind them said, "Okay you two, get a room. Well, if you haven't already got one."

Miley and Lilly broke the kiss laughing as they turned to look at Oliver and Ashley dancing beside them. "Like you two have never been caught making out, Oken," Lilly said as she playfully pushed Oliver.

"Yeah, well, we also don't move to the middle of the dance floor and start going at each other like—," he countered, drawing a playful smack on the arm from Ashley to stop his comment.

"They just got caught up in each other, Ollie. That's what happens when you're in love," Ashley said, flashing a smile at Miley and Lilly. "Nice to see you two here."

"Like I'd miss a chance to show off my stunningly beautiful wife," Miley said proudly as she twirled Lilly smartly.

"Oh my gosh, where did you get your dresses?" Ashley asked loudly as they passed under a spotlight, Miley's dress scattering the light in a startling way.

Lilly said, "Formalities. They're from the new _Love, Lola_ line of dresses. Aren't they hot?"

"Hell yes," Ashley said as she reached out to touch first Miley's dress, then Lilly's. "I have to get me some of those soon."

"I'm thirsty," Lilly abruptly said as the music from the current song ended. "Want a drink, sweetheart?" she asked Miley.

"Yeah, gettin' hot in here for some reason," Miley said as she looked Lilly up and down. She gave Lilly a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, honey," she said sweetly. "I'll get us in line for pictures before Paramore starts playing."

Lilly set off toward the refreshments table, all pretense at a ladylike stride forgotten as she sighted in on the food and drinks. Oliver hurried to catch up with her, finally reaching her right before they reached their destination.

"Wow," Ashley said with a grin as she watched Lilly's determined stride and Oliver's attempt to catch her. "She's serious about her food." She and Miley had gotten in line for Prom pictures, but they continued to watch their loves as they waited.

"Mmm hmm," Miley said, nodding in assent. "She always gets thirsty right before we start."

Ashley turned to look at Miley, who was lost in thought as she watched Oliver and Lilly in line for the punch bowl. "That doesn't surprise me," she said to Miley, getting Miley's attention. "That you two have your periods together, I mean. Heck, Miley, I think you two are about as close as two people can possibly get."

There was a trace of moisture in Miley's eyes following Ashley's comment as she turned to look at her, and for a brief moment Ashley wondered if she had said something wrong. But then Miley's mouth curled into a broad smile. "She's part of me," Miley said, shrugging her shoulders in a gesture that reminded Ashley of the Miley from three years ago. "And I'm part of her. It's really hard to explain, it's just..." Miley turned to look over at Lilly, who was now looking back in Miley's direction. "It's just how it is. And it's right," she finished, waving at Lilly to tell her that everything was okay.

"How do you two do that?" Ashley asked. "Know when the other is upset, I mean."

"We just do." Miley's attention was drawn back to the couples in line ahead of them. They were getting close to the front of the line, so she waved for Lilly and Oliver to hurry. "Part of me is really worried that Amber is going to try something tonight," she said with a more hesitant voice.

"I thought about that myself," Ashley answered. "But she's expelled, so she can't attend any school functions, even as someone's guest."

"I just hope that's enough," Miley said. Her smile came back out as Lilly and Oliver approached them. "Hey gorgeous," Miley said as Lilly handed her a glass of punch. She wasted no time in drinking it down, then she took Lilly's glass and did the same.

"Hey!" said Lilly, looking at the two empty glasses. "You drank mine!"

Miley blinked her eyes repeatedly at her wife, smiling her most charming smile. "And you love me, don't you?"

Lilly's frown melted away under Miley's look. "Yes, I do," she said, unable to maintain a straight face. She placed the empty glasses down on a conveniently placed table, then she took Miley into her arms. They were both facing forward, with Miley leaning back into Lilly's embrace. Behind them, Ashely was leaning back against Oliver in much the same way. "Hey look, Miles," Lilly said, pointing forward.

Miley slowly opened her eyes, which had closed due to the sheer pleasure of being held safely in Lilly's strong arms. "What is it, hon?" she said slowly.

"Look at who's getting their pictures made."

Miley looked forward, shifting to get a better line of sight. "No way!" she said as she saw Lilly's soccer teammates Gina Giles and Jamie Escante, their arms around each other as they smiled for the photographer. Miley turned her head to look back at Lilly and asked, "Did you know they were dating?"

"No, I had no clue," Lilly said. Gina had talked to Lilly several times about her relationship with Miley, so Lilly had guessed she might have been sorting out her own sexuality, but Jamie had always been popular with the boys. Her long black hair, petite body and dark Hispanic complexion gave her an exotic beauty that made the boys swoon, but apparently her charm was no longer confined to the males at Seaview.

"They look cute, though," Miley said as she gave them an appraising look. Gina was no bigger than Jamie, but she had shoulder length blonde hair and bright green eyes as well as a stronger frame and more muscular legs than Jamie, making their physical appearance quite different from each other. But there was no doubt that the two of them were very happy tonight, judging from the way they smiled and held each other.

As their picture session concluded, Gina and Jamie turned and walked back toward the dance floor. "Hey!" Gina said with a smile as she saw Miley and Lilly. "Hey you two!"

Jamie laughed as she took Gina's hand and walked over to stand beside Miley and Lilly. "We need to thank you," Jamie said. She had spent her whole life in Malibu and had no accent when speaking English, even going so far as to pronounce her name as the more American sounding _JAY-mee_ rather than the Hispanic _HAY-mee _that her parents still preferred.

"When did you two start dating?" Miley asked. She couldn't help but smile at how brave these two friends of theirs were, remembering what she and Lilly had gone through in the early days of their relationship.

Gina grinned and said, "We started sneaking off to see each other last weekend." She smiled at her girlfriend, who gave her a hug. "And it's been fantastic!"

Jamie nodded, her cascading hair bobbing with her head movement. "I've had a crush on Gina for months, and I finally got the nerve to tell her last Friday on the phone."

"And I just couldn't stay home after that!" Gina said. "I told Mom I was going out for ice cream, and I did... after I picked her up first!"

Jamie smiled as she added, "Then we spent last Sunday at the beach together, and we found a little spot where we could have some privacy." She looked at Gina and giggled, then added, "And oh. My. God. Are her lips soft!"

Miley wagged her finger at Jamie. "Don't take the Lord's name in vain, girl. You want Him on your side. Trust us on that one."

Gina looked down at the floor, then she looked back up at Jamie. "We, uh, haven't told our parents yet," she said nervously.

"My mama is gonna freak," Jamie added nervously, but she kept her smile firmly on her face. "But we can handle it. We're big girls."

Ashley leaned forward and said, "Hate to interrupt, but they're ready for the next couple. Want Oliver and me to go ahead?"

Miley looked back at them and nodded. "That'd be great, thanks guys." By the time Miley turned back around, Lilly was hugging Gina, so Miley hugged Jamie. As they traded hug partners, Miley said, "Hang in there. If it's meant to be, then there's nothing that can keep you apart as long as you both want to be together."

Lilly nodded vigorously. "Absolutely. But just remember, it's going to hurt the first few times someone has something ugly to say about you two. Be ready for it, and don't be ashamed to be in love."

Gina looked at Lilly soberly as she said, "I saw what you two went through, especially all that shit with Amber Addison. The way the two of you held your heads up, stood up to anyone who thought you didn't belong together, that showed me that I had to take a chance with Jamie. I--" She paused, then she turned to Jamie, tears welling in her eyes. "I... I think I love you, Jamie. I mean, I know it's just been a week, but I've thought about you for a really long time, and this just feels right." She wiped her tears with her left hand, then she said, "This feels better than anything I've ever known. And when I touch you, when I kiss you, it's like everything else goes away and leaves just us."

Jamie kissed Gina softly on the lips, then she rested her head on Gina's shoulders and whispered something to her, then she lifted her head and said, "I love you too, G."

Miley saw that Oliver and Ashley were finishing their pictures, so she took Lilly's hand and said, "We'll see you two on the dance floor, but we gotta get our pictures taken! Paramore's starting to set up over there."

Lilly turned to look and saw that Miley was right. The band that she loved was getting ready to start, and she and Miley were definitely going to get a good spot to dance and watch them. "I hope the photographer hurries," Lilly grumbled. "Otherwise we're not gonna get close to the stage."

Miley winked at Lilly as they walked to the backdrop of clouds and blue sky. "I think we'll get a good spot, lover," she said slyly.

The photographer and his assistant got the girls positioned, then Miley and Lilly took several different poses, one holding the other, then reversing, then facing each other and holding hands, then leaning in and kissing softly. Finally on the last two shots they grinned and went for broke, clenching each other and kissing deeply as the camera flashed. Cheers from the line behind them sounded at their final pose, making both girls laugh as they walked over and took the tickets for their pictures. They'd order the poses they liked online later that night or the next day, but now they could hear instruments getting a final check before Paramore started playing.

"C'mon Miles," Lilly said, "I want to get close!"

"Lilly, we're gonna get plenty close, I promise you!" Miley said as Lilly practically dragged her across the foggy dance floor toward the small stage.

Lilly turned to Miley and whispered, "Miley, Hayley knows Hannah and Lola, not us! She's not going to recognize us like this."

Miley grinned and said, "Don't be too sure." She led Lilly over to the side of the stage and yelled, "Hayley! It's Miley!"

To Lilly's surprise, Paramore's singer turned to look and then smiled and waved. Tonight her hair was a brilliant shade of red-orange, making her look stunning in her low-cut jeans and black t-shirt as she crossed the stage and knelt down in front of them. "Miley Stewart! How the heck did you wind up out here?" Hayley said, her accent much like Miley's but slightly more subdued.

Miley grinned and said, "It's Miley Truscott now, Hayley. We moved out here after my mom..." Her smile faded, but Lilly's warm squeeze of her hand gave her the strength to continue. "After my mom died. We've been out here about six years now."

Hayley's smile disappeared as she gently said, "I'm so sorry, Miley. Your mom was one of the nicest people I ever knew. Are you doing okay now?"

Miley nodded, then she smiled again as she nudged Lilly forward. "This is Lilly Truscott, Hayley. We got married about a year and half ago."

Hayley smiled again now, a warm and open smile that made Lilly nearly blush. "So you captured Miss Miley's heart, huh, Lilly?"

Lilly was momentarily speechless, despite the fact that she had once spoken briefly with Hayley backstage after a Paramore concert last year. At that time, she and Miley were dressed as Hannah and Lola, so she had never met Hayley as herself. The band was also present and performed at Hannah and Lola's wedding, but Lilly had only spoken with them a very short time then as well. Finally Lilly was able to say, "More like she captured mine," as she pulled Miley close and kissed her on the cheek. "How do you two know each other?" she asked.

By now the three of them were drawing a crowd. Hayley subtly gestured to the growing crowd to give them some room, and the other students obligingly stepped back. Miley leaned over to Lilly and said, "Hayley and Jackson went to school together when we lived back around Nashville, Lilly. We've known each other for a long time."

"Ahhh," Lilly said. "That explains that."

Hayley looked at Lilly again, her gaze lingering a bit. "Have I met you somewhere before, Lilly? You sure seem familiar to me."

"Um, nope," Lilly said quickly. "Don't think you've ever met _me_ before!"

Miley tried hard not to laugh, then she leaned in close to Hayley and whispered, "Did we tell you what date we got married on?" Hayley shook her head no, but her eyes remained fixed on Lilly. "November 29th, 2008," Miley said softly. "You were there," she added with a grin.

Hayley thought for a minute, then realization dawned in her eyes. She looked back at Miley and said, "Oh, you have got to be joking!"

Miley grinned and tugged Lilly closer. "Now you see why she looks familiar?" she asked happily.

Hayley swung her legs off the stage and dropped to the gym floor, where she gave Lilly a hug. "Then congratulations, Lilly," she said as she hugged her. "You've got one of the best wives in the world, I think. Maybe two," she added in a softer voice with a wink.

"Yeah, I sure do," Lilly said, returning the hug. "And it's great to finally get to _really_ meet you."

Miley hugged both of them, giving Hayley a quick kiss on the side of her head. "Thanks, Hayley. Great to see you again," she said. "Hair looks great."

"You too, Miley," Hayley said as she released them. "Is Jackson still around?"

"He got married to his girlfriend from here last year. They're at UT now." Miley looked around and said, "Thanks for doing this concert for us. We really appreciate it. Lilly is--"

"Only like the biggest Paramore fan ever!" Lilly said, interrupting her wife. "The only singer I like better is Hannah Montana... and I like her a LOT."

"I bet," Hayley said, giving them another wink. "I kinda like Hannah too. And I think her wife Lola is really funny and sweet. Good actress, too." She smiled and took a step back. "Maybe I'll see them again before long."

"I think you can count on that," Miley said, waving goodbye as Hayley climbed back up on the stage.

Once back up on the stage, Hayley took the microphone and moved to the center of the stage. "Good evening Seaview High School!" Cheers broke out in response to the greeting, putting a broad grin on the young singer's face. "I just found out that an old friend of mine from Tennessee is here tonight! But apparently she's gone and gotten married, so now she's Miley Truscott instead of Miley Stewart. But I've known her for a long, long time, and I want all of you to give her and her wife a spot right up front here, so they can enjoy the show!"

Miley smiled as she and Lilly walked through the parting crowd and took their position right in front of the stage. "Thanks, guys, Hayley," Miley said as she and Lilly waved to the band.

"You're welcome, Miley, Lilly," Hayley said. Then she loudly asked, "Now who's ready to party tonight?" She grinned as the crowd roared, cheered and whistled, then the band launched into their song "crushcrushcrush."

After several songs, Miley and Lilly both needed a break from dancing. Wordlessly they linked hands and made their way through the crowd back to the refreshment stands, where they sat after getting another drink. As someone sat beside Lilly, Miley looked over and was surprised by what she saw. "Sarah?" Miley asked, unable to look away from the tears running down Sarah's face, framed by the ringlets of her long golden hair. She wasn't wearing her trademark glasses tonight, and her face would have beautiful had it not been for the redness of her eyes and the blotching on her cheeks from crying.

"Holy cow, Sarah," Lilly said as she saw the tears, "what's wrong?" She reached over and took their classmate's hand gently.

Sarah sniffed for a minute, then she looked up and over at the two of them. "Can we... Can we go talk? Please?"

"Sure," Miley said as she and Lilly stood. Lilly carefully helped Sarah up, and the three of them went to the bathroom. As they went into the bathroom, the buzz of chatter and gossip was overwhelming, as was the smell of perfume and hair spray. "Great," Miley muttered. "No privacy here."

Lilly gently stepped around Miley and cleared her throat. "I think Jake Ryan's out there!" she practically yelled. She was rewarded by numerous shrieks, and she quickly pushed Miley and Sarah to the side and shielded them with her body as a stampede of girls poured forth from the bathroom. When they were all past, Lilly wedged a trashcan behind the door. "Now we have some privacy," she said with a broad grin.

Miley led Sarah over to a sink and ran some cold water over a few folded-up paper towels. Sarah took it and began washing her face. As Sarah looked into the mirror, Miley noticed that her long, curly hair had been elaborately styled for tonight, but now it looked a bit disheveled. Sarah sighed and tossed the wet towels into the nearby trash can. "How do you know if you're--" she said abruptly, halting just as suddenly. "I mean, how did you two know you were-- she said, then she stopped again. She shook her head, then looked back into the mirror, glancing between Miley's and Lilly's gazes. "I've always liked boys," she said finally. "Even though none of them ever seemed to really like me in return. And I've never had any problems with any of my friends who are gay, especially you two. You've always been so sweet and so honest, and anytime I ever asked anything of you, you were both happy to help out. But my parents don't feel the same way. When my oldest brother came out three years ago, my dad was furious. I mean, I remember some of the things that they said to each other, and they still don't talk." Lilly rubbed Sarah's back, trying to calm her down. Miley reached over and placed her hand on top of Lilly's, offering her own support to Sarah. Sarah forced a smile and continued. "You remember last week, when we had to turn in our science projects?"

"Yeah," Miley said. She and Lilly had done a project on heat convection and conduction using a lava lamp which had done surprisingly well. Sarah, on the other hand, had done a project with Danielle Kent, one of the school's top volleyball players, in which they had built a model wind-powered generator and power plant. Not surprisingly, they had gotten As, won the school competition, and placed second in the state competition.

Sarah smiled again as she said, "We stayed up really late the night before the projects were due putting the final details on our model. As soon as we were finished, we both sort of fell asleep at my house. During the night, I woke up and realized that Dani had rolled over on the bed and was holding me." She laughed once, but not much humor was in it. "It felt really good," she said, her voice breaking. "I had never had anyone hold me like that. I mean, when I went out with Ned our sophomore year, he held me one or twice, but he kept trying to touch my boobs, which really made me mad. But this... This was different. I didn't want to move, because it felt so good, feeling how warm she was against my back. But finally I got the nerve to roll over, and when I did she shifted and pulled me closer to her. I looked at her face for a long time, because she was still asleep, and I wanted something more. So I..." Sarah looked down, then back up. "I kissed her," she said softly. "And she kissed back. She smiled and I smiled too, and we kissed again, then I fell asleep. When I woke up the next morning, Dani had already left to go to her house and get ready, but she left me a note that said, 'Let me know when you're ready'."

"How sweet," Lilly said, her strong sense of romance triggered by the story. "We had no idea, Sarah."

"Nobody did," Sarah said. "Nobody does. I was going to ask her to come to Prom with me, but then I saw her in the hall yesterday flirting with Petey Sanders."

"The basketball player?" Miley asked. "I thought he was going out with one of the cheerleaders."

"He was," Sarah said, "but they broke up, so he asked Dani to come to Prom with him, and she said yes." Her voice finally broke, and she said, "And now I don't know what to do! It took me all week to get up the nerve to ask her out, but then she agreed to come to Prom with him, and all I can do tonight is watch them dancing together out there." Her tears started, but she continued to talk. "And it makes me sick! I mean, I really, really like her! I don't know if I'm gay, or if I'm bisexual, or if I'm straight and just have feelings for her because she's the first person who ever showed any real feelings for me! What do I do?"

As Sarah broke down and sobbed, Miley and Lilly looked at each other sadly. This was a first for them. If Sarah didn't know how she really felt, how were they supposed to know for her? Miley looked at Lilly as an idea hit her. "Sarah?" Miley said gently. "Sarah, honey, stop crying for a minute." The sobs lessened, which Miley took as a good sign, so she continued. "Sarah, sometimes it's really hard to know what the right thing to do is. In those cases, you have to look deep into your heart and ask it what to do. That's what Lilly and I had to do with ourselves."

Lilly seized Miley's idea and added, "Being brave doesn't mean you're not scared, Sarah. It means that you _are_ scared, but you do what has to be done anyway. What does your heart tell you about Dani?"

Sarah never looked up, but she said, "It... it tells me to go out there and tell Petey to buzz off. I want to be the one dancing with Dani."

"Then that's your answer," Miley said. She reached down and lifted Sarah's chin up. "Go tell her, Sarah."

"But what if she laughs at me? What if she realizes that kissing me was a big mistake, and she really hates me for not forgetting it?"

"Has she told you that?" Lilly asked.

"No."

"Then don't worry about it unless she tells you." Lilly looked into Sarah's teary eyes as she said, "Maybe she's just waiting for you to make the first move. You know, to show her that you're ready."

A banging on the door made the three of them jump. "I think someone's mad that we're hogging the bathroom," Miley said with a smile. She looked back at Sarah, who seemed to have stopped crying. "You feeling better?"

Sarah nodded. "I think so," she said softly. "Thank you, both of you," she said as she looked back and forth between Miley and Lilly.

"You're welcome," Miley said. "Now you go out the other door, and Lilly and I'll distract whoever it is that has to pee so darn bad."

Sarah smiled and took a few steps to the door on the far side of the bathroom, then she turned and walked quickly toward that door. Lilly took Miley's hand and gave her a hot kiss, smearing their lip gloss slightly. "Just to make it look authentic," she said with a giggle.

"I got no problem with that," Miley said in reply. They walked to the door and moved the trashcan, opening the door suddenly to reveal three girls standing around the door. "Sorry, ladies," Miley said as she smiled at them. "Just had to take care of some business," she added with a wicked grin, tugging Lilly forward as they walked through the three of them. She could feel their glares upon her back as she and Lilly walked away, both laughing at their expressions.

"Maybe we should've done something in there, Miles," Lilly said. "That was fun seeing how they looked at us." Before Miley could respond to Lilly's statement, Lilly beat her to what she was going to say. "But then, those bathrooms are nasty enough that I wouldn't want us to catch anything in there."

"You took the words right out of my mouth, girlfriend," Miley said with a smile as they reached the dance floor again. "Want to dance some more?" she asked as she turned to take Lilly's hands in hers.

"Silly question," Lilly answered as she happily took Miley's hands. Paramore was playing one of their slower songs, "Hallelujah," and the two of them held each other closely as they began to dance in tune to the music. After a minute they both became lost in the sensation of holding each other, dancing without really thinking about what they were doing. Right before the song ended, Lilly's foot struck something, causing her to spill backward suddenly. Miley did her best to catch her, but all she was able to do was to break Lilly's fall somewhat.

"Lilly, are you okay?" Miley asked, her face full of concern as she knelt down to look at Lilly, who was clutching her right ankle.

"My ankle's stinging, but other than that I'm okay," Lilly said, looking around and trying to see what she had tripped on. The fog concealed the floor quite well, and she was unable to locate anything either by sight or by feeling around. As she was feeling around, a foot nearly stepped on her hand, and only Lilly's quick reflexes allowed her to snatch her hand back out of the way.

Miley snarled, "Hey, watch where you're steppin' there, bigfoot!" as she looked up. But as she locked eyes with Amber Addison, she felt a surge of emotions roll through her stomach; however, where the Miley of two or three years ago would have looked away, the Miley of now locked gazes with Amber and never flinched as she helped her wife to her feet. "How the heck did you get in here?" Miley said, her voice cold and threatening.

Amber smiled. She was dancing with one of the players on the football team, a senior who should have known better. She smiled her poisonous smile at Miley and said, "New teachers work the Prom, remember? And the newest ones get stuck at the door. All I had to do was wait for Corelli to walk off for a minute, and then we were in." Her face became serious, a show of mock concern as she added, "They really should have some sort of list of students expelled from Seaview to keep people like me from getting into school events."

"How about if I just kick your ass to the door?" Miley said, stepping forward.

"Ooooh, I like the sound of that, bitch," Amber said, her voice oily. But at the sound of Lilly's gasp of pain, her face went from threatening to amused.

"Lil?" Miley said, turning to look at her wife. Lilly's face was twisted in pain, and she was guarding her right ankle.

"I'll be fine, Miles," Lilly said through clenched teeth. "Just twisted it when Sasquatch tripped me. Nothing I can't handle."

Miley turned back around to look at Amber, and as she did so, she took a look at how Amber was dressed. _Long skirt, tight hem at the bottom. And stiletto heels, of course. Amber, you brought this one on yourself._ "Okay Amber," Miley said as she slowly stepped around Lilly, "you really want to do this here, right now?" As Miley circled, she kept an eye on Amber's feet. Lilly's fall had pushed most of the fog away from them temporarily, and Miley was using that to her advantage.

"Oh, I do, Stewart," Amber said, matching Miley's steps slowly but not letting Lilly get behind her.

"It's Truscott now," Miley said, stepping another two steps to the side.

"Whatever. I don't recognize two dykes like you saying you're married."

As Amber stepped forward, Miley quickly slid back in the direction she had just came from. As Amber turned to keep Miley in front of her, her feet crossed at the ankles. The second that occurred, Miley stepped forward and shoved hard, sending Amber toppling onto her back with a resounding smack. The impact displaced quite a bit more fog and drew the attention of nearly everyone around them. Before Amber could get to her feet, Mr. Corelli had made his way over to them.

"Amber?" he said, surprised to see her here. "What the devil are you doing here?" Then his expression turned dark, as there really was only one—no, two reasons for her to be here. And both of them were standing right there. He turned to Miley and Lilly, noticing Lilly leaning against Miley and favoring her right ankle. "Did she try to do something to you two?" he asked them, getting nods in return.

"She tripped me, then she tried to pick a fight with Miley," Lilly said hotly. "Miley was just about to kick her ass, too."

"Oh, as if, Truscott!" Amber said as she climbed to her feet.

"Put a sock in it, Amber!" Mr. Corelli said loudly. "You're banned from this school and all its functions, so you and your date need to leave. NOW."

Amber's date turned to look at her and started to speak, but she slapped him across the face before he could say anything. "You're useless," she said bitterly. "And you were never going to get any tonight anyway." She turned back to Miley and Lilly and coolly said, "This isn't over, bitches. Not by a long shot."

"Out, Amber!" Mr. Corelli said. He reached out to take her arm, but she shrugged him off and walked briskly toward the main door. Mr. Corelli took another look at Lilly, then he followed Amber to make sure she left the building.

Miley helped Lilly over to the chairs, where they sat down. She lifted Lilly's leg up and rested it on her own knee, tenderly feeling the ankle. Lilly's hiss of breath at Miley's touch told her that the sprain was pretty bad, making Miley shiver out of sympathy. "I need to get some ice on this, Lilly Bear," she said tenderly.

"No," Lilly said as she reached out and grabbed Miley's arm, keeping her from standing. "Let's just go to the hotel, Miles. We can put some ice on it there, and then we can just relax." Before Miley could object, Lilly added, "We've already gotten our pictures made, we've seen our friends, we've listened to Paramore, and we've gotten to dance together." She leaned forward and kissed Miley tenderly on the lips, holding the kiss for a few seconds. "I have had a wonderful time tonight, Miles, and now I'm ready to spend the rest of the night with you. Oliver and Ashley will understand us not coming to her party. We can call them once we get to the Inn. Right now I need to spend some time with you, just you and me."

Miley looked deeply into Lilly's brilliant eyes, twinkling under the soft lights in the gymnasium. "How can I say no to the woman I love?" she said with a smile. "You think you can walk to the car?"

Lilly put her foot down and stood using her left leg. She carefully tested her right ankle, wincing a bit when she put weight on it, but she nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm good. As long as we don't race to the car." She grinned at Miley, getting her wife to respond the same.

"I love you, you know that?" Miley said.

"Yeah, I could tell back there," Lilly said as she leaned on Miley while they slowly made their way to the door. "I was sorta wanting to see you kick Amber's tall ass."

Miley grinned as they left the gym and entered the commons area. Ahead they could see Mr. Corelli talking to Ms. Hughes, his animated hand gestures suggesting he was filling her in on the Amber situation.

"Miles, Lilly!" called a voice from behind them. They stopped to let Oliver catch up with them. "You okay?" he asked.

"I'm okay," Lilly said. "Miley and I are just going to head out, I think. I hurt my ankle when Amber tripped me, and I really just want to put some ice on it and hold Miley now."

"Are you going to be mad at us if we don't come to the post-Prom party, Oliver?" Miley asked. She didn't want to hurt either his or Ashley's feelings, but Lilly came first.

"Be mad at you?" Oliver asked incredulously. "Heck no! We'll miss you at the party, but I totally understand, and Ash will too!" He looked around the commons area, then he asked, "You two seen her out here anywhere?"

"No," Lilly said, a puzzled expression on her face. "We thought she was with you."

"She was," Oliver said, "until that whole thing with Amber happened. When Mr. Corelli walked Amber out, Ash said she wanted to make sure that Amber was really gone. She asked me to come check on you two, but by the time I caught you, I lost track of where she was."

Miley didn't like the feeling of dread growing inside her. "We better find her," she said. "I know that Amber's got a serious mad on for us, but I wouldn't put it past her to try to hurt Ashley either, not now that she's friends with all of us."

Oliver turned to look back at Miley and Lilly. "Thanks," he said as he hugged them both at once. "But I can find Ashley. You two need to go get some rest and get some ice on Lilly's ankle."

Miley and Lilly both kissed Oliver, one on each cheek. "Thanks, Oliver," Miley said as Lilly echoed, "Yeah, thanks, Oliver."

"You're a great friend," Miley added. "We'll call you two later tonight, 'cause we want to hear all the details about the party!"

"Oh, and will you check on Sarah for us, too?" Lilly asked.

"Sarah?" Oliver asked, confused. "Our classmate Sarah? Why?"

Miley's eyes twinkled as she said, "She was trying to figure some things out tonight, and we want to make sure she's okay. Have her call us if she needs to talk, okay?"

Lilly leaned forward and tugged Miley back into motion. "But tell her to leave a message, because I think we're gonna be busy for the next few hours," she said as she flashed Oliver a naughty grin. "To the car, Miles!" she said with a saucy voice, getting a laugh from Miley.

"Oh my gosh, don't let a little swollen ankle go to your head, Lil," Miley said, still laughing as they made it outside. The night air was cool and refreshing, and the peaceful silence was a welcome change from the noise now escaping from the school building. "Will you please wait here and let me go get the car for you?" Miley asked Lilly, knowing full well what the answer would be.

"No, Miley," Lilly said with a tired voice. "I told you, as long as we take it easy, I can walk on it."

"You are _way_ too stubborn, Truscott."

"That's how you like me, and you know it."

They cut across the faculty section in front of the school as they walked, taking their time as they crossed that smaller lot and made for the more wide open space of the student lot. Even with the Prom tonight, many of the spaces were open; unfortunately, much of that space had been closed off for the loading and unloading zone. That just meant a slightly longer walk for Miley and Lilly, but they slowly covered ground as they drew near to the section where the cars were parked tonight.

Behind them, back toward the school, they heard a car start up. They both paused and looked behind them to see who was leaving. Headlights winked on toward the back of the school, on the other side of the faculty lot from Miley and Lilly. As the headlights slowly turned to shine directly at Miley and Lilly, Lilly said, "Miles, I have a really bad feeling about this."

The car eased closer to them, edging into a circle of light cast from one of the relatively few streetlights in the lot. Miley's face went pale as she recognized the car, a golden BMW 760Li sedan. "It's Amber," she said, her throat dry. She looked at the relative safety of the other cars, about fifty or sixty yards away from them. "C'mon Lilly, we have to move!" Miley said, pulling Lilly as she broke into a run. The sound of the car's engine revving up was all Miley could focus on until Lilly fell behind her. "LILLY!" she screamed as she skidded to a stop. She turned and ran back to her wife lying on the ground, struggling to get to her feet.

Lilly looked up as they both heard the tires squeal on the BWM, maybe a hundred yards away from them. "No Miles!" Lilly yelled as she pushed Miley toward the student cars. "Get to the cars!" She made it to her feet and started to run as Miley did the same, but her ankle gave way again, sending her tumbling to the ground once more and hitting the side of her head on the asphalt.

Miley was already sick with fear, but as she looked back and saw Lilly fall again the icy despair in her stomach doubled in intensity, then tripled as she saw Lilly futilely struggle to get back to her feet. The car finally started moving toward them now, the spinning tires beginning to gain traction. Miley took one last look back at their Roadster, on the other side of the parked cars. The closest cars were only fifteen or twenty yards away, offering good cover from Amber, but Miley knew she wasn't going to them. Not anymore.

As Lilly fell again trying to get to her feet, she started crying uncontrollably. _It's not FAIR! What about our life together? What about our family?_ But before Lilly gave up and lay down for Amber's oncoming car, she felt Miley's fingers wrap around her arms. "What're you doing, Miley?" Lilly yelled angrily. "Get to the cars! Save yourself, honey!"

Miley pulled Lilly to her feet. "NO!" she yelled, more harshly than she had intended. "Lilly Truscott, you ARE my life! Without you, I've got _nothing_! So either you run with me to those cars, or I swear to God I'll carry you to them!"

Lilly could see that Miley was also crying, and that touched something deep inside her, that part of her that couldn't stand to see the woman she loved upset. The part inside her that would do anything, no matter how badly it hurt, for Miley. She stood, but even as she made it to her feet and felt Miley pick her up, Lilly knew that they could never cover the thirty yards now between them and the safety of the cars before Amber reached them. "I love you, Miley," Lilly said as she closed her eyes and held tightly to Miley.

"I love you too, Lil," Miley said as she carried Lilly and ran toward the cars, and then she heard the shrieking of tires skidding across concrete and the sickening crunch and squeal of metal being cruelly, forcefully rearranged in a violent manner. Miley spun in time to see Amber's gold BMW, its front and driver's side crumpled, slam into one of the few light poles in the parking lot. Ten yards behind it, just outside of the faculty parking area, stood Oliver's truck, its front now twisted and its grill shattered. The driver's door swung open, letting Ashley drop down to the ground. As her feet touched the ground, she covered her mouth with her hands in a look of fright.

"Miley! There's smoke inside Amber's car!" Lilly yelled, pointing at what was left of the golden BMW following the collision.

Without even thinking about any other option, Miley ran toward Amber's wrecked car, still carrying Lilly. No flames could be seen, and the rear half of the car looked completely intact. _So the gas tank's probably okay, which is great. Maybe we won't get killed trying to save this stupid bitch_. But the door on the left side of the car was completely crushed; there was absolutely no way that the two girls would be able to open it.

"Other side, Miles," Lilly said, sliding out of Miley's grip as she staggered around the rear of the car to the passenger door. She opened the door, waving at the smoke that came spilling out of the BMW. "No fire that I see," Lilly said, then she leaned in and grabbed at Amber, pulling her across the front of the car.

Ashley came to a running stop beside Miley, who had a firm grip on Lilly's waist. "Is the car on fire?" Ashley asked breathlessly. "I smell smoke."

"No," Miley said, "I think it's the airbags." As she saw Lilly get Amber onto the passenger seat, Miley pulled Lilly on out, bringing Amber with her. Together they got Amber's unconscious form away from the crumpled BMW, finally laying her down on the concrete about fifteen yards away.

"She's not breathing, Miley!" Lilly said frantically. Lilly looked up at Miley and said, "You start on her chest, and I'll do the breaths for her." Seaview required its students to periodically take basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation classes, and Miley and Lilly had just done their refresher CPR class before Christmas. As Miley began chest compressions, Lilly gave the rescue breaths when it was time. After just a few breaths, Lilly could see Amber's throat try to work.

"She's got a pulse," Miley said, her fingers on Amber's neck across from Lilly.

"Yeah, but she's wheezing really badly, Miles," Lilly said, not sure of what to do other than continue CPR as she watched Amber gasp for breath.

Suddenly Ashley knelt down beside Lilly, pulling on her shoulder. "Here," Ashley said, thrusting a blue-gray inhaler at Lilly. "Amber's an asthmatic. This is her inhaler."

Lilly wasted no time in opening Amber's mouth and triggering several puffs of the inhaler inside, then she leaned over and gave Amber a forceful rescue breath in an attempt to get some of the medication into Amber's lungs. It was crude, but it seemed to help, as Amber's breathing seemed to get slightly easier.

The sound of many approaching running feet finally settled in for the three rescuers. Oliver practically fell to the ground as he reached the four girls. "What the hell happened?" he said loudly.

"Amber tried to run over us," Miley said, her voice not showing any of the trembling she felt inside her body. "She would have, too, if Ashley hadn't hit her in your truck and knocked her car away from us."

"She hit the concrete base of the pole over there," Lilly indicated with her arm, "and she wasn't wearing her seat belt. I saw that when I pulled her out of the car."

"We got her out of the car when we smelled smoke, and she wasn't breathing, so we gave her CPR," Miley continued. "Ashley found her inhaler and we gave her a few puffs of that. She's breathing now, at least."

Mr. Corelli's voice cut through the crowd of students just ahead of his body. "Are all of you okay?" he asked, his face more pale than Miley or Lilly ever remembered seeing it.

"I hurt my ankle inside when Amber tripped me," Lilly said, "and I fell trying to get away from her out here."

Miley quickly added, "But she was gonna kill us, Mr. Corelli! She started from all the way back there," she said as she pointed back to where Amber had been lying in wait, "and she came straight at us. When Lilly fell, we knew we couldn't make it to the other cars, and there was nowhere to hide out here. But then Ashley rammed her from the faculty lot and knocked her car over there." Miley took Lilly's hand as she looked at Ashley. "Thank you," Miley said, "for saving us."

Lilly pulled Ashley close to where she sat on the ground. She softly said, "And thank you for saving the family we're going to have, Ashley. Thanks for saving the woman I love."

"Did anyone else see any of this?" Mr. Corelli asked, looking around the crowd of students.

A small hand went up from the crowd. "I saw it," Sarah said as she stepped forward. "Dani and I had just come outside for a... walk... when I saw Miley and Lilly walking to the cars, then I heard tires squealing. We looked over and saw Amber in her car clear as could be under that light over there, and then I saw her try to run over Miley and Lilly. I didn't see Ashley until the truck hit Amber on the driver's side, but it knocked her over and into that pole over there." Sarah looked at Miley and Lilly and added, "She'd have killed both of you if she'd hit you," causing both girls to shiver involuntarily.

Ashley was trying not to cry as Oliver helped her stand, then he helped Miley up, who in turn helped tug Lilly to her feet. The sound of an ambulance siren drew everyone's attention, and within minutes Amber had been securely loaded into the ambulance. Two police officers also arrived and took statements from Miley, Lilly, Ashley and Sarah. Once all the statements had been collected, the officers said that they'd get Amber's statement when she woke up in the hospital.

As the crowd started to thin out, Miley knew that Lilly's ankle was throbbing. "Sweetheart, we have _got_ to get you off that ankle," she said in a reprimanding voice.

Lilly didn't even try to argue. She just nodded slowly and put her arm around Miley's shoulders. "Hope the party goes a bit better, Ashley," she said, putting a smile on her face.

Ashley likewise returned a smile as she held Oliver's hand. "I think it'll go pretty well now that we don't have to worry about Amber burning the house down."

Oliver pointed at the glossy black Roadster behind them. "Go," he said to Lilly and Miley gently but firmly. "Get going. The two of you are not allowed any more excitement tonight. Plus my Mom'll be here any minute, and if she catches you here it'll be hours before you can escape." Oliver's mother was a detective for the Malibu Police Department, and she was quite good at interrogating anyone and everyone around her, much to Oliver's chagrin at times.

Miley hugged Oliver and pulled him over to Lilly, who likewise embraced him firmly. "Be good to your woman, Oliver," Lilly said. "She loves you. And she saved Miley and me tonight. We owe her big time."

"I think anything you might owe me has already been repaid," Ashely said from behind them. She walked around the obsidian car and said, "You were my friends when Amber made almost everyone else in this school hate me. And you were there for Oliver when I..." She trailed off; those wounds were still too fresh, too painful to explore right now. "You were there for us," she finished. "So it's only right that I was there for you."

Oliver smacked his head suddenly. "Oh man, my truck! I just now realized that! My mom's gonna kill me!"

Ashley took Oliver's hand as she led him away, smiling at Miley and Lilly as they got into their Roadster. Ashley looked back at Oliver and pulled him closer as she said, "I think my man needs a new truck, don't you? And tell your mom that this one's on me..."

As Miley and Lilly fell into the cockpit of their car and closed the doors, they took each other's hand and leaned back, closing their eyes and just enjoying the peace of being together in silence. After a few seconds, Miley opened her eyes and sat up, starting the car. She and Lilly buckled their seat belts, then they carefully pulled out of the school parking lot.

As they drove in near silence toward the Malibu Beach Inn, Lilly turned to look at Miley, not saying anything. Miley glanced at Lilly quickly, then turned her attention back to the road. After a minute, Miley said, "Yeah, we probably should go check on her," getting a faint smile from Lilly.

"Thanks," Lilly said. "I mean, I don't want to talk to her or really even look at her ever again, but I'd like to know that she's going to be okay."

Miley sighed, as frustrated at her own compassion as that of her wife's at that moment. "Yeah, me too," she finally said. "I hate her at this point, because she tried to kill us tonight, but she's still somebody's daughter."

"That's true," Lilly said, her voice indicating her mind was thinking about something else. Finally she turned to Miley and said, "You know, when you turned around and came back to get me, I didn't know what to feel. I was so sad because I knew you were going to be killed, but I was happy because we'd go together. And then I was _really_ sad because we'd never get the chance to hold our daughters, to watch them grow up, to spend the rest of our lives together. And that's what made me really angry at Amber right then, that she was trying to take our future away from us."

Miley was quiet and Lilly followed suit for the next minute as they pulled into the hospital parking lot. Once they were parked Miley turned off the engine and turned to look at Lilly, a smile on her face. "I was thinking about what you just said," she said, "and the first thing I realized is that I was just as angry at Amber for the same reasons, that she was trying to take our future and our family away from us."

When Miley didn't say anything else, Lilly cautiously said, "Miles, usually when people say 'the first thing', that means there's at least a second thing."

Now Miley really smiled. "Second, you said _daughters_," she said playfully, then she reached over to tickle Lilly along her ribs.

Lilly shrieked and squirmed as she tried to stave off Miley's hands. "Hey, Mrs. Truscott, I get to carry your baby just like you get to carry mine!" she said, giggling as Miley continued to tickle her. Finally she got a solid grip on Miley's hands and leaned into her wife. "I love you, you know that?"

Miley smiled as she held Lilly with her arms, since her hands were pinned firmly. "Yeah, I think I do," she said. "Just like I love you."

After a few seconds of just holding each other, they separated and got out. Miley helped support Lilly as they walked into the waiting room for the emergency department. Heads turned to look at them in their prom dresses, but neither Miley nor Lilly really cared. They walked to the triage nurse where Lilly asked, "Is Amber Addison here, please?"

The nurse looked up and asked, "Family?"

The girls shook their heads. "Classmates," Miley said.

"Family only back in the trauma rooms, girls. Sorry."

"Can you at least find out if she's going to be okay?" Lilly asked. "We'll wait."

The nurse looked at them with an air of irritation, but she said, "I'll go check." She got up to let another nurse take her seat, so Miley and Lilly went to sit down across the waiting room.

"Look, Miles," Lilly said in a whisper. Miley turned to follow Lilly's gaze across the waiting area and saw the same police officers who had spoken to them at the school talking to a middle-aged couple who were both crying. "You think that's Amber's parents?" Lilly asked, getting a shake of the head from Miley in response.

"No clue, Lilly, but it could be," Miley said as they sat down several seats away from them. As they sat, one of the officers looked over and noticed them. In a few minutes the officers stood and shook the hands of the man and woman, then they went back into the treatment area. The man and woman turned and looked at Miley and Lilly, and their tears were obvious. As the two couples exchanged gazes of sympathy, the man and woman both stood slowly, stiffly, and made their way down to sit across the aisle from the two young women.

"Are you two the Miley and Lilly that Amber has been so mean to?" the man asked, his voice deep but rich. Miley guessed that he was who Amber got her singing voice from.

"Yes sir," Miley said. "I'm Miley Truscott, and this is my wife Lilly Truscott." Lilly softly said, "Hi," to them.

Amber's mother looked carefully at the two girls, finally speaking in a voice that sounded more fragile that either of them would have guessed. "They said that Amber tried to run over you two tonight at your Prom, and that she was hurt when another student rammed her car into Amber's to save you two."

Miley and Lilly slowly nodded, not really knowing where this was going but needing to tell the truth.

"And they also said that Amber wasn't wearing her seatbelt, and that she hit the pole and was hurt when her airbags went off."

Miley and Lilly nodded again, staying quiet for the time being.

Amber's mother leaned forward slightly. "And the two of you, and Ashley, helped get Amber out of the car and did CPR on her until she started breathing again." Seeing the two young women nod yet again, she continued, "Why? Why did you save her after she had just tried to kill you?" Her face was twisted in confusion, but relief and gratitude were also evident behind that confusion.

Miley and Lilly turned their heads to look at each other as they hugged a bit more tightly. "I guess we just couldn't stand by and let someone die when we could do something to help," Miley said finally.

Lilly added, "We just wanted to stop by and make sure she was going to be okay."

Amber's mother had tears running down her cheeks, but she leaned forward and took the hands of both Miley and Lilly. "Thank you for saving my baby girl," she said. "After everything she's tried to do to you both, you still had it in your hearts to try and help her. Thank you."

The scene was interrupted as a nurse came over to the four of them. "Mr. and Mrs. Addison?" she asked.

"Yes," Amber's father said as he, his wife, Miley and Lilly stood.

Lilly leaned slightly on Miley as the nurse said, "Your daughter is going to make it. There was some concern about possible brain injury from the airbag striking her, but the swelling on the brain is minimal and is going down with the steroids they're giving her. She does have a broken arm and multiple smaller injuries, but she's stable. The doctors think she'll probably be awake sometime tomorrow, but they're going to keep her sedated tonight. Would you like to come back and see her?"

The relief on the faces of Amber's parents was obvious as they turned to look at Miley and Lilly. "Go see your daughter," Miley said. Nothing else was said as the older couple followed the nurse back into the treatment area, while Miley and Lilly left the hospital and slowly walked back to their car.

"I'm calling Oliver in the morning," Lilly said. "I want his mom to make sure that Amber never comes near us ever again."

Miley nodded as she opened Lilly's door for her. "I think that's a great idea," she said as she helped Lilly in, then closed the door behind her. As Miley slid into her own seat, she started the car and said, "But now it's time to quit thinking about anything but us."

"Amen to that," Lilly said with a smile as they turned around and drove to the Inn.

After ten minutes they were at the Malibu Beach Inn. Miley hurried inside and got them checked in, then she came back out to the car. She handed Lilly their key card as she put the car back into gear and pulled around to their room. As Lilly got out of the car, Miley grabbed their overnight bag out of the Roadster's small storage area. By the time she reached the door, Lilly already had it opened for Miley. "After you," Lilly said sweetly.

"Thanks," Miley said as she stepped inside. The room was beautiful, with a single lamp providing a soft light throughout the room. "Wow, it's perfect," she said. She turned to Lilly and said, "I'm going to get some ice for your ankle, sweetheart," as she grabbed the ice bucket and took the key card from Lilly.

As Miley opened the door, Lilly loudly said, "I'll wash off and get naked for you, lover!"

Miley turned a bit red, but she managed to reply, "You do that, Lil," as she closed the door. She felt her heart speed up as she found the ice machine and filled the bucket up. When she re-entered their room, she saw Lilly reclining on the king-size bed, the covers turned down and only a long pillow covering her naked body. "You look so hot," Miley said as she looked at her wife.

"You hand me the ice," Lilly said with a smug grin, "and then you wash off and get naked yourself. I may have a hurt ankle, but I'm still gonna tear you up tonight, woman."

The thinly disguised desire in Lilly's voice made Miley's throat go dry and her back start to sweat. She had noticed that her cramps were beginning on the drive from the hospital, but the surge of passion in her heart drowned out any possible interruptions such as cramps or fatigue. Miley handed Lilly the ice bucket and a hand towel, then she quickly turned and hurried into the bathroom.

As Miley stripped off her dress, shoes and underwear, she grabbed another washcloth and ran some hot water over it. She quickly washed off, starting with her face and neck, then moving down her body and finally getting her legs and feet. She rinsed the washcloth again, then she carefully washed between her legs and her butt. As she looked at the washcloth, she saw a pink tinge on the white fabric. "Great," she muttered. "But I need you, Lilly. I need you as bad as I ever have." She tossed the washcloth down on the bathroom floor and turned out the light. She stopped to brush her teeth and noted happily that Lilly had already done the same, seeing her still-wet toothbrush by the sink. Once her teeth were clean, Miley turned off that light and strolled across the suite.

"You get more beautiful every day, Miley," Lilly said, awe in her voice as the glow of the single lamp illuminated Miley's lean body. "And I get more lucky to have you every day."

Miley silently noticed the large towel under Lilly's pelvis as she crawled onto the bed in as sexy a manner as she could pull off, straddling Lilly's legs as she stopped on all fours atop her wife. She leaned down and hungrily kissed Lilly, feeling Lilly's hands shoot to the sides of her head to hold her close as they kissed. "I'm starting," Miley breathed out against Lilly's insistent lips.

"I don't care," Lilly said, her voice nearly drunk with desire. "And I started too, on the way down here, that's why I got the pillow--" She paused as Miley's fingers touched her breasts, making Lilly lift her back off the bed as she pushed back against Miley's tender touch. "But I have to have you, Miles, period or not," she said as she ran her left hand down Miley's back until she was gripping her butt. "And it's not like we haven't done it during our periods before..." Lilly's voice trailed off as Miley's hands shifted positions to propel her down to Lilly's hips.

"We'll pay for the sheets and the mattress in the morning," Miley said as she spread Lilly's legs apart and began to make love to her wife.

"Oh Miley--" Lilly said, gasping as she felt Miley's tongue begin to touch her, first gentle but then more firm, more demanding. Lilly twisted her hands in Miley's thick, gorgeous hair as she felt her orgasm build, growing closer and closer, and then finally erupting as she screamed Miley's name over and over again.

They made love nearly four hours before sleep caught up with them, physically exhausted but emotionally renewed. Miley got back up and wet two more washcloths so they could wash their mouths, hands and bodies again before they curled back against each other, reveling in the sensuous warmth of each other as Lilly tugged a sheet across their bodies.

"You enjoy that, Miles?" Lilly asked over her shoulder as Miley held her tightly from behind.

Miley giggled briefly. "Did the noise complaint not clue you in on how much I was enjoying it?"

Lilly laughed, her happy laugh that sent butterflies through Miley's stomach every time she heard it. "Yeah, it kinda did," she said. "How many times did I make you come, Miles?"

Miley thought for a minute, finding it difficult to really concentrate due to the afterglow of their lovemaking. "Six? Maybe seven?" she said, as much as question as it was an answer.

Lilly grinned, even though Miley couldn't see it. "I think that's about how many times you made me come, too," she said pleasantly.

"Six or seven?" Miley asked.

"Yeah," Lilly answered, seemingly in a daze as she spoke. "Just the right number, Miles. Just right."

"Say your prayers, Lilly Bear. Love you."

"Already did. And love you too, girlfriend." Lilly reached over and clicked off the lamp, bathing the room in a comfortable darkness as she turned to hold Miley as well, the two best friends kissing one last time before they closed their eyes and drifted into sleep in each other's loving arms.

**Author's Afterword:** Wow, that was a loooong chapter, but I think it turned out great! I had planned on posting it Sunday night, but I was just too tired to finish it properly last night. I think the extra day was worth the wait. Now it's time to start on the next chapter. As usual, give me a week or two to get it written and posted, but I'll hurry as best as I can. Thanks for reading and for the kind comments and reviews, and I'll see you soon with the next chapter!

-- Jo --


	7. Chapter 7: Beautiful Day

**Author's Note:** I'm glad everyone is continuing to enjoy the story, because it's going to be a long one! Thanks to all the very nice reviews and all my readers, who continue to make writing these stories I love even more fun for me. This chapter picks up about three weeks after the events of the Prom on a Saturday morning right before our girls leave to fly to Washington for their senior trip.

Here are my standard disclaimers: I make no claims on any of Disney's, Miley Cyrus', Emily Osment's or Hannah Montana's trademarks or copyrights, and no infringement is intended. Be forewarned that this story most certainly will contain femslash. If love and affection between two consenting young adults of the same sex bothers you, I suggest you turn right around and find something else to read. Keep any flames to yourself and remember that what our world needs now is more love and acceptance, not more hate. Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated!

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 7: Beautiful Day

_Only the young can say_

_They're free to fly away_

_Sharing the same desire_

_Burnin' like wildfire_

--Journey;"Only the Young"

_Lilly awoke to the pleasant sensation of gentle kisses on her forehead and face. "Mmm, morning," she said happily, not opening her eyes. She could feel the sun's warmth on her bare shoulders, so the covers must have slid slightly down her upper body during the night. She smiled as she reached forward for Miley, expecting to lazily tangle her fingers in her wife's long, gorgeous, curly hair. However, the curly hair she felt was considerably less thick and the head it was attached to considerably smaller than Miley's. Lilly's eyes snapped open, much to the delight of the bright blue eyes looking back into Lilly's matching gaze._

"_I fooled you, Mama!" said the little blonde-haired girl, grinning at Lilly with a face so similar to Miley's that it took her breath away. The little nose, the plump cheeks, the pert chin, they were all Miley made over in a younger age, but as Lilly looked more closely, the mischievous grin was most definitely hers, as were the color and texture—if not the curls—of the girl's hair. She looked to be about three or maybe four, but it was difficult to tell just from looking at her face._

"_You sure did, punkin'," Lilly said automatically, getting another grin from the little girl in response._

"_I'm your little punkin', I'm your little punkin'," the girl sang happily, ending with a firm hug on Lilly's head. Her little head jerked up as someone else joined them in the bedroom. "Mommy!" the little blonde girl squealed happily as someone sat on the bed behind Lilly,who rolled over to look at who had joined them._

"_Hey baby girl," said Miley's warm voice, which sent shivers up and down Lilly's spine even in her dreams. Miley leaned down and kissed Lilly on the lips, lingering for a few seconds before pulling back and whispering, "Morning, lover."_

_Before Lilly could reply, the little girl started singing, "Mommy and Mama, sittin' in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!" _

_Lilly started laughing, pausing only when the laughter send a tug across her stomach. "Uh, Miley?" Lilly said as she carefully felt her abdomen, which was still underneath the covers._

"_Yeah, hon?" Miley said, tickling their daughter across the bed. "This dream is awesome," she whispered in Lilly's right ear, scarcely believing what she was experiencing. But as Lilly caught her eye, something made Miley's heart begin to race even more. "What is it, Lil?" she asked nervously as she considered the unusual look in her wife's eyes._

_Lilly gently reached up and took Miley's right hand, sparing little Brooke from further tickling while she caught her breath. "See for yourself," Lilly said as she gently guided Miley's hand beneath the covers._

_Miley started to comment on the inappropriateness of them fooling around with their daughter in the room when Lilly placed her hand on her abdomen. She looked down at Lilly with eyes as round as Lilly had ever seen them. "Lil?" Miley said, her voice faint as she fought for breath. "Are you..."_

"_Pregnant," Lilly said, nodding her head slightly. "I'm pregnant," she said as she gently felt her abdomen, not painfully distended but definitely gravid. As Lilly and Miley continued to hold their hands on Lilly's belly, they were rewarded by a gentle fluttering underneath the skin, then by a more firm kick. "She's kicking!" Lilly said gleefully._

"_Yay!" cried Brooke as she flung back the covers to reveal most of Lilly's enlarged abdomen. "Sissy's kicking!" She put her little mouth against Lilly's skin, being careful not to move either of her mothers' hands, and began talking to the baby. "Hi, baby. I'm your big sister Brooke! I wuv you!"_

_Miley leaned over and kissed Brooke on the top of her blonde head. "You are the sweetest little thing, you know that?" Underneath them Lilly shifted and then carefully stood, trying to get a feel for how her center of gravity had been thrown off by the extra weight and girth of her pregnant abdomen. "You okay, hon?" Miley asked as she likewise stood, ready to support Lilly if she needed it._

_Lilly nodded. "Yeah, I'm good. Just taking a second to get my balance." Satisfied for now, she walked over to the closet and stood in front of the full-length mirror on the door. As she stood, Miley came and stood behind her, wrapping her arms around Lilly and gently supporting Lilly's belly with her hands. Then little Brooke came over and hugged Lilly as well, wrapping her little arms around Lilly's right leg for all she was worth as she too looked into the mirror and grinned. Lilly stared into the mirror, scarcely believing what her eyes were showing her. As she looked, she could see both her own tears and Miley's matching ones trickle down their cheeks as they smiled at their blessings. "Thank you," Lilly said, glancing upward, "thank you for this amazing family."_

"_Amen," Miley said as she carefully turned Lilly's head back toward her and kissed the mother of her child deeply._

As Lilly's eyes slowly opened, she could hear Miley likewise stir. Miley's arms around Lilly gently hugged her, prompting Lilly to roll back toward her wife and softly say, "Good morning, sweetheart. You like that dream?"

Miley's smile was broad as she rolled onto her back. "Mmhmm," she mumbled as she stretched like a cat, her long arms extending over and behind her, nearly touching the wall behind their bed. Lilly repositioned herself across Miley's bare chest, wrapping her own strong arms around Miley's lean torso as she kissed Miley's sternum.

"I get so hot for you after dreams like that," Lilly said as she kissed her way to Miley's right breast, then to her left. She spent some attention on each as Miley squirmed underneath her, gasping as the delicious feelings Lilly was sending through her body as she slowly kissed her way downward.

"Well," Miley gasped, "I get hot for you when you touch me like that." Lilly paused, her mouth now hovering just inches over where Miley really, really wanted it to be. "Ohhh, why are you stopping?" Miley moaned, arching her back and softly thrusting her hips in an attempt to reach Lilly's lips.

Lilly grinned at how badly Miley wanted her. It was just as hard for Lilly to hold back, especially this close to the spot where only she was allowed to go. "I'm not stopping," Lilly said after a few seconds. "I'm just enjoying how beautiful you look, Miles." And then she could restrain herself no more.

"OHHH!" Miley cried out, fumbling for a pillow and finally grabbing one. She pulled it over her face and screamed her pleasure into it over and over until Lilly brought her to a lovely orgasm and then finally relented. As she felt Lilly release her hips and start to crawl atop her again, Miley tossed the pillow to the side and grabbed her wife, pulling her up by her arms a bit forcefully.

"Hey," Lilly said, surprised and more than a bit turned on by Miley's aggressiveness. Suddenly she found herself pushed forward, facedown onto the bed as Miley slid out from under her.

"No more talk," Miley said, her voice low and husky with awakened desire. She grabbed Lilly's butt and pushed it forward until it lifted off the bed, leaving Lilly's rear totally exposed as Miley spread her wife's legs at the knees. "Now I get to show you just how much I need you, girlfriend," she said as she began to hungrily make love to the woman of her dreams. She had to hold on as Lilly bucked and jerked as two orgasms shook her body in quick succession, but hang on she did, all the while continuing to pleasure the eighteen-year-old who had captured her heart so many years ago. Even now the two of them couldn't completely put into words how close they were, as some of it was so natural and so instinctive that words were inadequate to describe it.

As Lilly slowed her body's jerking, Miley rolled her wife's now-sweaty body over, leaving Lilly quivering as she lay on her back. Miley immediately fell on top of Lilly, taking their blanket with her as she wrapped Lilly up warmly with both the blanket and her body. Lilly's eyes were still jerking underneath her closed eyelids, but Miley kissed her lover anyway, sharing with Lilly the taste of both girls mixed together in an intoxicating way. As Miley deepened the kiss, Lilly found enough strength to grasp Miley's ribs and pull tightly, pressing her own lips against Miley's in a way that bespoke the depths of the desire each young woman had for the other.

Finally breaking for air, Miley tossed her hair back over her head with one fluid move of her head. "You have no idea how much I love watching you do that," Lilly said, her face glowing with happiness.

Miley grinned and then said, "Oh yeah I do." She and Lilly both giggled as they snuggled together a bit longer, but finally they decided it was time to wake up. "C'mon, sexy, we need to get up and get ready. Lots to do today." Miley slowly got up then turned to help Lilly step out of the bed.

It had been three weeks since the Senior Prom, and Lilly's ankle was completely healed at this point. It had taken just under two weeks for all the pain to go away, but now she was able to resume all her favorite activities, and just in time. As Lilly stood she stretched, but Miley had already walked into the bathroom. She groaned as she worked the kinks out of the muscles that her orgasms hadn't already loosened, then she padded on into the bathroom. As she walked in she noticed Miley was brushing her teeth, so Lilly walked over to their shower and started the water. "So are you ready to spend several hours at a skate park surrounded by about two hundred skater girls and their crazy fans?" Lilly asked her wife, a grin on her face as she picked up her toothbrush, which Miley had already prepared for her.

Miley spit and rinsed her mouth, then said, "As long as one of them is the woman I love, I'll spend all day there." She stepped up behind Lilly and gently, slowly squeezed Lilly's butt as she kissed Lilly's right shoulder, working her way to her neck.

Lilly hurriedly spit and rinsed, with Miley chasing her down as she did so, making both girls laugh. "Silly," Lilly said as she stood back up, finally exposing her neck for Miley's pleasure as she did so. She shivered as Miley kissed and licked the skin of her neck, finally laughing and jerking away when the tickling sensation became too much. "Tickle fiend!" she yelled as she pointed at Miley, who responded by looking off to the side and trying to put an innocent expression on her face. Lilly covered her mouth with her right hand, then she said, "You know, the innocent act might have worked if you hadn't just screwed my brains out a few minutes ago, young lady!"

Miley put a look of shock on her face as she countered, "You weren't wanting innocent this morning, Truscott, admit it!"

"No, that was _you_, two nights ago," Lilly replied, still grinning. "We probably ought to look into getting me a new cheerleader outfit soon, Miles. I mean, that old outfit is, what, six years old now? I mean, it was from middle school, for Pete's sake!"

Miley opened the shower curtain for Lilly to enter, then followed her wife into the warm shower. "Yeah, but the fact that it was yours from back then is what makes it special, Lilly. We have great memories of you being a cheerleader! I mean, you did it to spend more time with me," Miley said as she began to shampoo Lilly's wet hair. "That was really sweet of you."

"Yeah, but you were the one who put on that stinky old pirate mascot outfit to spend the time with me!" Lilly closed her mouth long enough to rinse her hair, then she began talking again as Miley began to work the conditioner into her hair. "The things we'd do for our Miley-Lilly time," Lilly said dreamily.

"Yeah," Miley said as she finished conditioning Lilly's hair, then gently pushed Lilly back until her head was under the spray of warm water again. "And the things we still do for that Miley-Lilly time. Like me going to the Supergirl Skate Jam, for instance."

Lilly wiped the water from her eyes in time to see the smirk on her lover's face. "You're actually looking forward to it, Miles. Admit it!"

Miley grinned dumbly as she and Lilly traded places so Miley could wet her thick hair. "Okay, I admit it," she finally said. "I really like watching you skate."

Lilly kissed Miley on her dripping nose as she said, "Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" She giggled at Miley's grin, then she began to work the Herbal Essences shampoo into Miley's gorgeous hair. "You like watching me skate as much as I love skating for you," Lilly added. "I just hope I do well today."

"Lilly," Miley said, sputtering a bit as the water threatened to run into her mouth until she tilted her head further down, "you're gonna do great! You're one of the best skaters around here, and you know it."

"Yeah, but there are gonna be heavy-duty skaters from all over California there, Miles. Heck, from all over the country! I just don't know if I can compete with them."

Miley thought for a minute, then she tipped her head as far back as she could, letting it soak up all the water it could as she rinsed the shampoo out. When her hair was adequately rinsed, she suddenly flung her head forward and down, smacking Lilly squarely on the head and face with her wet hair.

"Ah!" Lilly yelled with surprise before she broke out into a fit of laughter. "Okay, I didn't see that one coming."

Miley grinned as she grabbed the conditioner bottle and squirted some in her hand. She began working it in as Lilly got the body wash and began washing her wife's body thoroughly. "Glad I can still surprise you," Miley said.

"Are we still going to the CD signing next weekend, after we get back from D.C.?" Lilly asked as she scrubbed Miley thoroughly, trying not to let things get too heated right now.

Miley nodded, speaking once she was out from under the spray of warm water. "Yeah, if you still want to."

"Of course I want to!" Lilly said, stepping out of the shower as Miley turned off the water. She handed Miley a pink towel and grabbed a red one for herself. "I love watching you with your fans. They're always so sweet!"

Miley smiled as she toweled off. "I really am lucky to have such great fans. I mean, all through us dating, the concerts, the albums, they've always been supportive and faithful."

"That's because they love you," Lilly added as she kissed Miley on the cheek. "And for your younger fans, the parents love you too. I mean, everybody makes some mistakes. We got some complaints when we posed in bikinis for the _Sports Illustrated_ swimsuit issue this year, but most of the letters and emails were positive. Like the article said, we work hard to stay in shape and look good for each other, and we wanted everyone to see how hard we work. Plus staying active is important for young girls, and that was the point of the article, really."

Miley poked Lilly in the chest. "You just wanted to say you were in the swimsuit issue," she said with a smug smile. "So you can rub it in with Oliver."

Lilly walked into the closet to get clothes for both of them. "That might be part of it," her voice said as it floated out of the closet. "Plus I like getting to show off how amazingly beautiful my wife is."

"Same here," Miley said as she began to brush her hair out. "Same here, girlfriend."

After thirty minutes, the two of them were ready. They made their way down the stairs to find Robbie Ray sitting on the couch, reading a magazine. "Mornin' girls!" he said cheerily as they hugged his neck from behind. "Breakfast's over on the stove if you're hungry."

"Thanks, Mr. S," Lilly said as she spun and made her way over to the kitchen to pour some drinks.

Miley stacked several pancakes on a plate for Lilly, then looked at it a moment. After thinking for a few seconds, she added two more pancakes. Lilly would need the extra energy today. She grabbed the bottle of syrup, still warm from the microwave, and walked over to the island. Lilly quickly joined her with their drinks, water for Lilly and orange juice for Miley.

"You excited about the skateboard contest, Lilly?" Robbie Ray asked from the couch. Obviously he had already eaten breakfast.

Lilly simply nodded excitedly, as her mouth was already being filled with warm pancakes.

"I think that means yes, Daddy," Miley helpfully translated. "We're supposed to be out there by nine, then it'll be practice and the first rounds. When Lilly makes it through them, she'll have the second round after lunch. Not really sure how long it'll take, but Lilly guessed we might be there until four or five. Heard any more numbers yet on Hannah's new CD?"

"Double platinum in four days! Looks like Hannah's got another number one on her hands."

Lilly reached over and squeezed Miley's hand, finally swallowing the large bite of pancakes. "Thank you for making our song the first single," she said tenderly.

"Lilly, you don't have to thank me. It's a terrific song, and everyone knows it."

"I know Miles, but just that it's our song that we wrote together is what makes it really special to me. It sounds so beautiful when you sing it, too." Lilly closed her eyes, remembering how amazing it was to hear the words they had written together come to life through Miley's voice. She had goosebumps the entire time Miley was recording the song, and she still got them when she heard the song on the radio. Miley's lips on her cheek woke Lilly from her reminiscence.

"I love it too, Lilly. And I bet that's gonna be one of the first things we get asked about in our interviews. Oh! Did you remember to pack the new laptop?"

Lilly nodded. "Sure did," she answered as she took another bite of the pancakes, this one a bit more manageable. As she finished that bite, she added, "You finish packing your clothes?" When Miley didn't answer, Lilly cut her a glance out of the corner of her eye. "Miles..."

"I know, I know, I just forgot last night!" Miley grinned as she looked at Lilly. "And I seem to remember that you had something to do with me forgetting it."

"Miley, it's too early to be embarrassing your father this morning," Lilly said with a grin. "We should at least wait until lunchtime."

Miley turned to Robbie Ray. "Are we embarrassin' you, Daddy?"

Robbie Ray never looked up from his magazine. "Not at this moment," he answered carefully. "But the breakfast table probably ain't the best place to be talkin' about your love life, darlin'. Now you two finish eatin' so you don't have to drive too fast to get there on time."

"Yes, sir," Lilly said with a smile as she attacked breakfast with vigor again.

Several minutes later they were driving down the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Monica, where the Los Angeles location of the Supergirl Skate Jam was being held this year. A new skate park had drawn the attention of the event's organizers, and Lilly had already gone down to check out the new facility once the event had been announced two weeks ago.

"You nervous, hon?" Miley asked as she drove, thankful that traffic wasn't too bad this early on a Saturday morning.

"A bit," Lilly answered. "I mean, I'm not used to skating in front of TV cameras, Miles. And these girls down here are gonna be _good_."

Miley took Lilly's hand and brought it to her lips so she could kiss it tenderly. "They'd better be, if they don't want you to embarrass them," she said, getting a laugh from Lilly.

"Really, Miley, I'd be happy just to place in the top ten," Lilly said. As they reached the skate park, they could see the vans for ESPN2, the trucks for several different skateboard and equipment companies such as Element, A1, Girl, Flip, Osiris, Spitfire, Toy Machine, Zero, Darkstar, Volcom and several others. "Wow," Lilly said, nervousness creeping into her voice. "I don't remember it looking this big on TV last year!"

Miley found them a place to park in the competitors' section, showing Lilly's registration to a parking attendant walking over to check them in. "Lilly Truscott, from Malibu," Miley said as the young lady, roughly their age, looked in the Roadster.

"Nice car," the blonde girl said, eying the car appreciatively.

"Thanks," said Miley. "She's Lilly," she added, pointing her thumb at her wife.

"Hey Lilly," the girl said. "Just go check in at the registration tent over there," she said as she pointed to a tent with a bright pink roof, "and you'll be ready to take some practice time. Good luck today."

As the young lady walked off, Miley got out of the car and walked over to Lilly's door. "C'mon, Truscott," she said as she opened the door. "Time to get goin'!" Lilly looked up at her with a rather forlorn look, tugging on Miley's heartstrings. "Oh sweetheart, what's wrong?" Miley asked.

"I'm just nervous, Miles," Lilly said. "I mean, I'm afraid I'll do terrible, and that everyone'll laugh at me. And I want to do really well for you!"

Miley grabbed Lilly's hands and tugged her wife out of the car into a standing position, where she used her body to push Lilly back against the car. Miley put her arms around Lilly's waist as she leaned in close and said, "Lilly, no matter what happens, I'm going to love you and be proud of you just for being here. No matter what happens, that isn't gonna change, and you know it." Lilly looked up and Miley caught a hint of a smile on her face. "Now, you're gonna go out there, skate some practice, get to know the course, and then show everyone how amazing a skater you are. If everyone else _is_ somehow better than you, so what?"

Lilly's smile got a bit more steady as she asked, "But if I don't get to take home a trophy for you?"

Miley smiled as she looked directly into Lilly's eyes. "Honey, you get to take _me_ home. Isn't that better than any old trophy?"

Lilly leaned her head forward until their foreheads were touching. "Oh yeah, I'll take you over a trophy any day, Miles," she said as she now put her own arms around Miley's waist. "But don't you let anyone hit on you while I'm out there skating, okay?"

Miley tried not to laugh, as she knew Lilly was serious. "I promise that I will flash my rings at anyone who even looks at me longer than two seconds. That work?"

Miley's smirk made Lilly laugh, dispelling some of her nervousness. "That works. And I promise to do the same."

"You better," Miley said. "I get mean when someone tries to cut in on my girl."

Lilly leaned forward just a bit and kissed Miley for long seconds. "And I love it," she said as they broke the kiss. "Now let's go get me registered."

"Uh, aren't you forgetting something, hon?" Miley asked, reaching into her large purse.

"Miles!" Lilly said, indignantly.

"Uh uh, you're wearing sunscreen and that's all there is to it." Miley produced a bottle of sunscreen and squirted some into her hands.

"But it makes my hands slippery, and lots of my tricks have board grabs in them!"

Miley almost laughed at Lilly's near pout. "Well then, it's a good thing my hands are used to rubbing all over your body, isn't it?" she asked, her eyes twinkling.

As Lilly thought about that, she said, "Okay, I suppose I could use some sunscreen after all." As Miley started rubbing it onto Lilly's neck and upper chest, Lilly added, "Make sure you don't miss any spots."

The rest of the morning went incredibly well. Lilly's practice was quite good as far as Miley was concerned, and in the initial round Lilly posted a solid first skate and a terrific second skate, the third-highest score of the morning. Those scores were enough to advance her into the second round, which would be filmed in its entirety.

As Miley and Lilly ate their not-very-healthy lunch of French fries and hamburgers, they chatted freely with several other skaters. As a skater, Lilly was obviously counted as "one of the girls," but Miley noted that she was likewise included in the conversations. She also noted that quite a few of the skaters had girlfriends of the romantic sort with them, and that girl-girl relationships didn't seem to be anything to bat an eye at here. Several girls present gave Miley lingering looks during the day, but Miley always responded with a shake of her head and either taking Lilly's hand or arm to indicate she was happily committed, or with a flash of her wedding and engagement rings if Lilly was skating.

When lunch was over and the last short practice session was finished, the girls were given the skate order for the finals. Lilly drew a time in the middle of the order, not ideal but certainly better than going first. While the course was no different, everyone was getting hot and tired at this point in the day, and falls were hard and frequent. As another competitor went down hard, Miley winced and squeezed Lilly's arm that she was holding onto. As the teenage girl stood up with blood trickling out of her mouth and running down her left knee, Miley asked, "Why do so many of them not wear pads?"

Lilly shrugged. "For some of them it's a tough thing. You know, you skate with mostly guys who don't wear pads, and if you don't look as tough as they are they make fun of you. For others it's all about feel. Some skaters say that knee and elbow pads limit their mobility."

"Well, I'm sure glad—OUCH, that looked like that hurt—that you wear them, sweetheart," Miley replied, quite concerned as the current competitor took another hard fall. "Otherwise I think I'd be really nervous about you skating."

Lilly watched as the current skater waved off any further tricks and staggered to the edge of the track, then she turned to look at her wife. "Miles, I was taught to use my brain for something other than to keep my skull warm. Wearing a helmet and pads has kept me from getting hurt pretty badly before, and I want to stay healthy for you. But right now I need to go warm up, because I'm after this next girl."

Miley smiled and kissed Lilly quickly on the lips, then looked deeply into Lilly's eyes. "I love you, ya know," she said, getting a grin in return.

"Yeah, I know," Lilly said, her own smile crossing her face.

Miley kissed Lilly intensely for long seconds, then she said, "Have a good skate, lover."

Lilly blinked her eyes a few times, then she hugged Miley tightly. "Just like you sing for me, Miles, I skate for you," she said with a grin as she dropped her board and pushed off, moving to the warm-up area.

Miley watched Lilly as her wife warmed up, not really paying attention to the girl on the course at the moment. When her run was over, she saw Lilly pick up her board and climb to the ledge where competitors started their run. As the announcer called out Lilly's name, Miley cheered loudly, jumping up and down as the crowd also cheered for the happy blonde several of them had gotten to know today. Lilly looked into the crowd, finding Miley instantly, and blew her a kiss. Miley grinned and returned the gesture, saying a silent prayer for Lilly to stay safe and do well. And then Lilly was off.

Miley was nervous beyond words as Lilly shot down the ramp and across the course, landing two simple tricks along the way. Miley forced herself to calm down, as she knew Lilly would feel her anxiety, and as she calmed down she noticed Lilly pick up the pace. She made the most of her allotted time, landing several difficult tricks that drew cheers from the crowd. As the horn sounded signaling the end of her run, Miley ran down to the cooldown area, nearly sweeping Lilly off her board with a fierce hug. "You did great!" she said happily. "That was a beautiful run!"

Lilly took off her helmet and kissed Miley fiercely, much to the surprise of the ESPN2 reporter standing by to interview her. "Lilly! Bette Walker, ESPN2. Got a few seconds for us, please?" the reporter called out, finally getting their attention.

"Sure!" Lilly said, but she didn't let go of her hug with Miley.

"Great run out there, Lilly! Now, you're not a pro skater, are you?" the reporter asked.

"No," Lilly said, shaking her head. "We're still in high school, but we graduate this year."

"And who is this with you?"

Lilly smiled as she kissed Miley on the lips quickly. "This is my beautiful wife, Miley Truscott! We've been married over a year, and she has been _great_ at supporting my skating."

Miley leaned forward slightly and said, "I love watching her skate, because she's so natural at it, plus it's something she really loves. And watching her do such a good job has just totally pumped me up today! I am SO proud of her!"

Lilly leaned forward quickly and added, "I'd also like to thank all the sponsors who made it possible for a bunch of girls to get together and skate seriously. No matter how I place today, we've had fun being here, and that's what it's all about in the end!"

"Lilly, thank you for your time and congratulations on a great final skate," the reporter said as she finished.

As they walked over to a nearby bench and sat down, Miley started helping Lilly take her pads off. "You were unbelievable, Lil," Miley said, planting little kisses on the exposed body parts as she removed Lilly's pads. "I think you're gonna win."

Lilly drank her water that Miley had brought her, then shook her head. "Uh uh, I won't win, not a chance, but I skated as good as I could out there. Like I said before, I'll be happy with being in the top ten."

Miley finished getting Lilly's gear put in her bag, then she helped Lilly up so they could walk back to the course where they watched the last few skaters. After several minutes of tabulating scores, the winners were announced; much to Miley's delight and Lilly's amazement, Lilly placed fourth, narrowly missing third place by only 0.17 points. Miley had to help Lilly carry her trophy to the car, as it was nearly as big as the girls themselves, standing right around four feet tall. Lilly had to get in first and then Miley helped fit it into the car between Lilly's legs, moving her skating gear to the storage area. As Miley sat down into the driver's seat and started the car, she glanced over at her wife, stretched back in the seat, cradling the massive trophy. "I'm proud of you, Lilly Bear," she said softly, running her fingers through Lilly's hair, now wet with sweat. "Now you rest for a bit. Once we get home I'll help get you cleaned off, then you deserve some snuggle time." She carefully backed out of the parking place and made her way through the lot, and within minutes they were back on the Pacific Coast Highway, heading home.

It was nearly six o'clock by the time they got back home, thanks to traffic, and Lilly had taken a nice nap on the way back. As they pulled into the driveway, Robbie Ray came out to meet them. They could see the grin on his face as he saw the massive trophy that Lilly was holding, and Miley found it impossible to hold a straight face herself as she parked the car.

"Hooeee!" he said as he opened the door for Lilly and helped wrestle the trophy out of the car. "I take it you did pretty good, huh, darlin'?"

"Yeah--" Lilly said, but she was cut off by Miley.

"She did fantastic! She placed fourth! Out of people from all over the country!" Miley ran over and hugged Lilly tightly, then she wrinkled her nose slightly but didn't release Lilly from her embrace.

"I stink, huh?" Lilly said, wrinkling her own nose.

Miley nodded in assent. "Just a bit," she said softly. "Okay, you stink a lot."

"I think I might just take me a shower," Lilly said, winking at Miley. "And someone I know needs to finish packing and make sure we have clothes set out for the breakfast tomorrow." It was only a week and a day before Mother's Day, and the two of them had asked Ashley, Lilly's mother, and Ashley's mother to go eat with them. Lilly and Miley were both unsure of how it would go with Ashley's mother, but they agreed it was a nice gesture that needed to be attempted. She had been surprisingly quiet about Ashley's growing romance with Oliver recently, and that both pleased and worried all four of the involved teenagers.

"Yes, ma'am," Miley said, saluting Lilly with a weak attempt at a military salute.

"Dismissed," Lilly said, trying not to laugh. "Mr. S, will you please carry that trophy inside for me? I don't think I could lift it again right now, I'm so zapped."

"You got it, Lilly," he said, easily picking it up. "Where you want it?"

"Hm," Lilly said, pondering the simple question. There wasn't much room left in her and Miley's bedroom, but neither was there a tremendous amount of free space in the house. "I guess maybe downstairs next to the TV, or maybe in Jackson's old room for now, if that's okay with you."

Robbie Ray tipped his head as he said, "Fine with me!" He held the door open for Lilly, who hurriedly plugged in the Roadster to start it recharging and then rushed inside to hop in the shower.

The rest of the evening was rather relaxed. Lilly's parents came over to have dinner and look at Lilly's trophy, which Robbie Ray had placed in the living room beside the television, ensuring that anyone who came over would have to look at it. Miley and Lilly laughed as they talked to Phil and Meredith, and even Lilly's brother Ron stopped by on his way home after work. Miley and Lilly were leaving to fly to Washington, D.C., with another sixty of their senior classmates tomorrow afternoon, and everyone was wanting to spend some more time with them before they left for the next six days.

As the evening wound down, Ron excused himself first, leaving around ten to go call Luanne then get some sleep. Shortly thereafter Meredith decided she was also getting tired, so she and Phil said their goodbyes. As they walked to the door with Miley and Lilly, Meredith turned to say goodbye to both her daughters, one she had given birth to but two that she had watched grow up before her eyes.

"Good night, girls, and thank you for a wonderful evening," she said as she hugged Lilly, then Miley.

Lilly's father looked at Miley as Meredith was hugging Lilly and added, "Miley, I couldn't ask for a nicer daughter-in-law than you. You've done a great job taking care of my Lilly, and we both know she can be a handful at times."

All of them shared a laugh as he hugged Miley, but she quickly added, "Yeah, but she's my handful, and I wouldn't want her any other way."

Lilly gave Miley an adoring look out of the corner of her eye, getting Miley's arm slipped around her shoulders in response. "Night Mom, Dad," she said as she melted into her wife's loving embrace, her own arm curling around Miley's waist. As they walked out onto the porch to watch Lilly's parents walk home, Miley whispered, "You know what'd feel good right now?"

Lilly looked back at Miley, appreciating how the bright porch light lit up her wife's profile. "I can think of quite a few things that'd feel really good that involve you, girlfriend. You might have to be a bit more specific."

Miley blushed slightly, but she looked at Lilly with a gaze that sent Lilly's heart into a faster rhythm and said, "Does my skater girl want some extra rewards for bringing home a big trophy today?"

Lilly swallowed and nodded her head. "Oh yeah," she managed to get out.

Miley walked Lilly inside, leading her by the hand. As they closed the door, Miley wrapped both her arms around Lilly and kissed her deeply, taking nearly a full minute to enjoy the depths of Lilly's mouth, the warm pressure of her lips against Miley's, the liquid fire of her tongue sliding across her wife's. Finally breaking for air, Miley said in a low voice, "I was thinking of a moonlight swim first." She saw Lilly's eyes light up at that suggestion. As much as Miley loved the mountains she had grown up in and considered them a part of her, Lilly felt the same way about the ocean. There was no way that Miley would ask Lilly to give up the ocean and move back to Tennessee permanently, and in much the same way Lilly would always want to go back to the mountains with Miley whenever the opportunity presented itself.

As a smile curled across Lilly's lips at Miley's suggestion, she said, "Sometimes you have the most kick-ass ideas, Miles," getting a giggle from her wife in reply. "I'll finish doing the dishes, you get the swimsuits."

"No," Miley said, not releasing Lilly from her grip. "We'll finish the dishes together, then we'll change together. That way we get out there sooner."

"Works for me," Lilly replied.

Working together they finished the dishes in just a few minutes, and in less than fifteen minutes they were running across the sand behind their house, laughing as they hurried to the ocean. They had told Robbie Ray what they were doing so he could keep an eye on them; it was approaching eleven, and the two of them knew they weren't going to be fooling around on the beach beyond just some kissing and holding each other. While they both had grown sexually in the years they had been together, neither of them was much of an exhibitionist; they instead preferred to keep their lovemaking inside their house, ensuring it was something private to be shared only by them. The next week was going to be tricky, as they would be sharing a room with two of their friends from school while they were in Washington. The only truly private time they would have would be while they were in the shower together, and they planned on making the most of that. They were both slightly nervous about having to make love with two of their friends in the next room, but they were both realistic enough to see that there was simply no way they could go nearly a week without that most intimate sharing of themselves with each other.

As the warmth of the ocean enveloped their feet and their their legs as they ran into the surf, they laughed as they continued to hold hands, powering through the breaking waves until they both dove forward into the water. As they came up, Lilly said, "Miles, this feels great! Awesome idea!"

Miley smiled as she looked at Lilly in the moonlight, its soft glow illuminating her young wife's face as water ran in rivulets down her cheeks. As Lilly flung her hair back out of her face, Miley took in the beauty of her neck and shoulders, the softness of her skin belying the firm strength underneath. Miley swam over to her and shifted so that both of them could touch the bottom most of the time as the waves came in and out, then she gave Lilly a soft kiss on the cheek between the swell of waves. "Thanks hon," Miley said. "Love you."

Lilly looked back at Miley and said, "Love you too." After a few seconds of looking back at her partner, Lilly added, "You look so beautiful in the moonlight, Miley."

Miley snickered and admitted, "I was just thinkin' the same thing about you, Lilly." Nothing further needed to be said as they both turned and swam to the shore, where they both stood and walked out of the rise and fall of the waves. They went over to their towels and started drying off, then they linked hands and walked to their house, which was waiting on them with its comforting corona of glowing lights. As they approached the back porch and began rinsing the sand and salty sea off using the shower sprayer on the lowest level, Miley said, "We've got it so good, Lilly. I get to enjoy the ocean with you, and you get to enjoy the mountains and the woods with me."

Lilly smiled as she ran her hair under the sprayer, once again grabbing her towel and now vigorously drying her hair with it. "You said it, girlfriend." As Miley dried her hair much the same way, Lilly took her hand and led her inside, up the stairs and into their bedroom. As Miley closed the door, they removed their swimsuits and dropped them into the laundry hamper by their bedroom door, then Lilly turned down the bed for Miley as they crawled into the cool embrace of the smooth sheets together. "Goodnight!" they called out together to Robbie Ray, but they didn't wait for a reply as they began to kiss and slide their bodies across each other, rapidly heating up the bed with their love for each other and their life together.

**Author's Afterword:** Sorry about it taking the full two weeks for this chapter, but things have been a bit busy recently. Next chapter brings us the very intriguing early Mothers' Day breakfast with Miley, Lilly, Meredith, Ashley and Ashley's mother. Even I don't know how that's going to turn out! And then our heroines fly off to D.C., officially marking the start of the second phase of this story. Give me a week or two to get that chapter finished, but I promise I'll hurry along as much as the story and my life allows me. See you soon!

-- Jo --


	8. Chapter 8: Sailing Into the Storm

**Author's Note:** Welcome back! I appreciate all of you for following our girls through this story, because pleasing great readers and telling great stories are what keep authors writing. Please note that in this chapter I am _not_ specifying what religion Ashley's mother ascribes to. Doing so would unfairly pigeonhole the character and could be seen as derogatory to that religion. In this case, leaving it open allows for a better story without distracting readers or detracting from the underlying message. Sorry about it taking the full two weeks, but my family and I have been fighting off a stomach virus this past two weeks. Now, go read!

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 8: Sailing Into the Storm

_I found a place so safe, not a single tear_

_The first time in my life and now it's so clear_

_I feel calm, I belong, I'm so happy here_

_It's so strong and now I let myself be sincere_

_I wouldn't change a thing about it_

_This is the best feeling_

--Avril Lavigne;"Innocence"

The screams coming from his daughter and daughter-in-law's bathroom brought Robbie Ray running as fast as he could. He tried to respect their privacy both as young adults and as being married, but these were screams of terror he was hearing, not the cries of passion that usually came from their room. The fear audible in these screams now overrode any concerns about violating their privacy. He rushed into their bedroom and immediately noted that the shrieks were coming from the bathroom. He quickly opened the door, silently praying that he wouldn't see anything he really didn't want to; his prayers were answered when he realized that both Miley and Lilly were in the shower behind the pink Hannah Montana shower curtain, but they were still screaming.

"What the devil is goin' on in here?" he said loudly, raising his voice loud enough to be heard over their cries. "It sounds like you two have been watchin' those horror movies again!"

The shower curtain slid back abruptly a few inches, and two faces peeked out around its edge, Miley's face on top and Lilly's face underneath. "Daddy!" Miley cried, as Lilly screamed, "Mr. Stewart!" at the same time.

"Yes, yes, it's me!" he answered, still quite worried about what exactly was wrong. "WHAT'S WRONG?" he yelled back at them.

"SPIDER!!" the two girls yelled in unison, pointing at a brown and black arachnid, roughly an inch across counting its legs, motionless on the wall at the rear of the shower. Remarkably, the spider didn't seem the least bit interested in all the screaming.

"A spider?" he asked incredulously. "All that hoopin' and hollerin' is over a dadblamed spider?"

"No, Daddy!" Miley said, frustration in her voice as she strove to make her father realize how serious the situation truly was. "It's a _FUZZY_ spider!"

Lilly nodded her head up and down, still pointing at said spider. "And it was coming after us!" she added, her voice's pitch significantly higher than usual. "Eeeep! Look! It's moving again!" she said, hiding behind the shower curtain which she tried to wrap around herself and Miley, holding it like a shield between them and the spider.

Robbie Ray could feel his heart still pounding out of concern for his daughter and her best friend, but he truly didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or scream at that very moment. He settled for some well-directed aggression. "Would ya like me to kill it for you?" he asked firmly, still not quite believing that this wasn't all an elaborate joke.

"Yes, please, Daddy!" Miley said as Lilly vigorously added, "Please please please!"

He shook his head as he grabbed some toilet paper and folded it up. "Make sure you two are covered with that shower curtain," he said as he approached the shower, keeping his eyes averted from the girls.

"Good idea, Mr. S," Lilly said, her voice still tight. "That way, if it jumps at us and gets by you, the curtain might still save us."

Robbie Ray stopped, his hand poised to strike the unsuspecting spider. "That wasn't my exact reasonin' for saying that, Lilly, but I guess it'll do." He turned his attention back to the spider, once again motionless. For a moment, he wondered whether the high-pitched screams had stunned the poor animal into a coma, but then he realized that the poor spider had to go. For the sake of what remained of his hearing, if nothing else. He struck swiftly, and the terrifying threat of the fuzzy spider was no more. He removed its remains from the wall, and both girls exhibited great interest as their heads peered over the shower curtain that was nearly wrapped totally around them now.

"Did you get it?" Lilly asked, craning her neck to try and see the wad of paper he held in his hand.

Robbie Ray nodded as an idea came to mind. "Think so," he said, looking at the paper. Suddenly he jerked his hand back, dropping the wad of toilet paper to the bathroom floor as he yelled, "It's alive!" As Miley's and Lilly's heads jerked back behind the shower curtain and the screams began again, he retreated from the bathroom, laughing as he closed the door behind him.

Roughly fifty minutes later, Miley and Lilly came downstairs, dressed up smartly for the Mothers' Day brunch. Miley had elected to wear a light spring sundress, its brown, white and pink print suggesting flowers in an abstract pattern. Lilly had opted for her favorite look, olive pants with a contrasting t-shirt, red today, with a soft lavender knit cap over her blonde hair. A few braids dangled from underneath the cap, with a streak or two of purple in her silky hair. Miley's hair fell in its natural curly state this morning, and both girls were wearing sneakers today.

"Daddy?" Miley said as she walked over to her father, stopping just short of him. "That was mean, acting like the spider was still alive."

"But it was kinda funny," Lilly softly said to Miley, her voice lowered to nearly a whisper. "Well, once we realized it really was dead and he was playing a joke on us."

"Lilly!" Miley hissed. "Getting off track!"

"Sorry!" Lilly hissed back, rolling her eyes.

"Anyway, Daddy, what if that had scared us so bad that one of us had fallen and got hurt?" Miley continued. As she continued, Lilly stepped back behind her and silently gave her father-in-law a thumbs up sign.

Robbie Ray fought to keep from laughing as he listened. Finally he seized a break in his daughter's speech and stepped forward to hug her. "Sorry darlin'," he said as he held her. "Didn't mean to scare you two that bad."

"We forgive you, Mr. S," Lilly added as she joined the hug, wrapping her arms around Miley and Robbie Ray. "As long as you don't throw any more spiders at us. Or act like you're throwing spiders at us."

"Deal," Robbie Ray said. "Now you two need to scoot, or you're gonna be late for your breakfast."

"Thanks, Daddy," Miley said, smiling at her father. While she would always miss her mother, having a father who truly cared and a wife who loved and supported her like no one else made the longing more bearable. "Let's go, girlfriend," Miley said, taking Lilly's hand as they went out the back door to the garage.

As they drove to Geoffrey's, one of their favorite restaurants for special occasions, Miley rolled the window down and took in the sensation of the sea breeze blowing through her long hair. She felt Lilly's strong fingers curl around her left hand; she shivered as she felt her wife's loving touch travel up her arm and down into her heart like an electric current. "Love you," she said as she turned to look at Lilly, whose blonde hair was likewise tossed around by the air blowing through the car.

So much more could have been said. _Thank you for understanding why I get sad on this day. Thank you for being here when I just need someone to hold me, or to touch me, or to listen to me, or to talk to me. Thank you for making sure that I never have to be alone on Mothers' Day. Thank you for loving me and cherishing me for who I am, the strong parts and the weaknesses both._ So much more _could_ have been said, yes, but nothing more _needed_ to be said, because with just a warm look and a tender squeeze of her wife's hand in return, Miley was able to say all of that and more to Lilly. Miley simply said, "Thanks, Lilly, for everything you do for me."

Lilly took a quick glance at Miley, and the smile on her face was able to convey her devotion and concern despite her eyes being covered by her sunglasses. "Love you too, Miles, and you're welcome," she said simply. "I plan on doing it for you for a long, long time."

Miley lifted Lilly's hand to her face and kissed her knuckles. She could feel tears begin to form, and she held them back, refusing to cry today, not when things had become so wonderful in her life. Today was a day to be happy for her living mother-in-law as well as for her deceased mother, and she was going to make sure she made both of them proud of her. As Miley willed her tears to not come forth, Lilly tenderly ran the back of her hand along Miley's cheek. It was a fairly awkward gesture, as Lilly was doing it by touch since she couldn't really take her eyes off the road, but their familiarity with each other made it a gesture so soothing that Miley reflexively leaned into her lover's touch like a small child leaning into the embrace of a parent.

In an example of cosmic timing, Lilly pulled into the parking lot and a parking place just as Miley began to lean into her touch. Lilly put the Roadster in park and killed the engine, then she turned to Miley. Her heart skipped a beat as she looked at expression on Miley's face: her eyes were closed, her mouth curled into a slight smile, her forehead still slightly wrinkled from anxiety but relaxing as Lilly watched. Lilly reached across the car with her left arm and cupped Miley's right cheek, triggering her eyelids to shoot open, revealing aqua eyes that danced with emotion as Lilly looked into them.

Miley leaned across the car, meeting Lilly halfway as they embraced across the car's console. Miley held onto Lilly as Lilly rubbed her back and the tears she had held back finally trickled forth. Miley smiled despite the tears, as she knew exactly what Lilly was about to say, and she knew how true the words were.

"Never again, Miles. Never again. You never have to go through this alone again."

Miley nodded her head, unable to speak clearly due to the lump in her throat. She knew it was okay, because Lilly would understand her tears. She always had and always would, and for that and so much else Miley would be forever grateful. Eventually Miley was able to say, "How I ever told you how great you are?"

Lilly smiled—Miley could feel it—and said, "Yeah, but go ahead and tell me again. I like to hear it."

Miley laughed and felt the tears stop. "You're full a' yourself today, aren't you, Mrs. Truscott?" she asked as the two of them leaned back so they could look at each other.

"Why, yes I am, Mrs. Truscott," Lilly replied. "But I'd rather be full of you, if you know what I mean," Lilly added with a sparkle in her eye.

Miley felt her face turn red, even though it was just the two of them. "I think we might have time for a little sleep-in before we have Daddy drive us to the airport," she said. She knew that there was a matching sparkle in her own eye, too. Making love to Lilly had become something she needed as much as oxygen, but it was altogether more pleasant than breathing as far as Miley was concerned.

"Yay," Lilly said softly at Miley's affirmation. "If I didn't get some of you before we left, I might be tempted to get frisky under a blanket on the flight out there."

"Uh uh, Truscott," Miley said firmly. "No way are we doing anything like that where we might get caught."

"Party pooper," Lilly said, not really meaning it but well aware of her own role in their friendly banter. She suspected that if her fingers did a little roaming under a blanket on the airplane that Miley wouldn't deny them anything they sought, but Lilly wouldn't do anything quite so bold unless one of them _really_ needed the intimate contact. Still, appearances had to be kept up for the sake of their playful talk. "Okay, let's go on in. Ashley and her mom just went into the restaurant."

"I so hope this isn't a bad idea," Miley said, looking in the mirror to check her lip gloss.

"Me too, Miles," Lilly said as she opened the door. "Me too."

As they walked into the restaurant, Miley and Lilly looked around the well-lit, open interior. The light colors gave the place a happy, airy feeling, and the view of the ocean only added to its splendor. They quickly spotted Ashley and her mother taking their seats at a table already occupied by Meredith. Lilly's mother quickly spotted them and waved, getting Ashley to turn her head. Miley and Lilly waved back and walked at an even pace to the table. Ashley had wisely put herself next to her mother, leaving enough space for both Miley and Lilly to sit next to Meredith. Lilly took the seat closest to her mother with Miley beside her. At the round table they were occupying, Miley was also next to Ashley, ensuring that neither of them sat next to Mrs. DeWitt.

"Happy Mothers' Day, Mom, Mrs. DeWitt," Lilly said as a greeting as Miley helped her into her seat.

Miley quickly sat as well, making sure she had a smile on her face as she said, "Yeah, happy Mothers' Day Mrs. Truscott, Mrs. DeWitt. Thanks for coming to this brunch with us."

Ashley's mother's gaze wasn't exactly friendly, but neither was it overtly hostile. After a pause, she said, "Ashley thought it would be a good idea for us to do this breakfast. She... remains quite upset with me for not being very nice to you two," she said, nodding her head toward Miley and Lilly.

"They're very good people, Mother," Ashley said, her expression carefully neutral. "I really think that if you ever got to know them that you'd realize that absolutely nothing is wrong with them."

Mrs. DeWitt turned to look at her daughter while Meredith very deliberately sipped her hot tea. "It is very difficult for me, Ashley, to accept their feelings for each other. In our religion--"

"_Your_ religion," Ashley interjected.

Her mother started again. "In my religion, for two women or two men to love each other is wrong. It condemns them to Hell for their unnatural feelings."

"But Mrs. DeWitt," Lilly said, unable to hold her tongue any longer, "the feelings that Miley and I have for each other _aren't_ unnatural! They're the most natural feelings I have, deep inside my heart!" She took Miley's hand and held it against her heart for emphasis. "The only feelings that I have that are even close to how much I love Miley are the feelings that I have for my Mom and Dad."

"What about your brother?" Meredith asked, turning to her daughter.

"Ron's in third," Lilly said, her poker face firmly in place. Miley fought not to laugh as Meredith pondered that statement until Lilly finally smiled. "Okay, it's a close third." Meredith's smile came back out then.

_Did she almost laugh?_ Miley thought as she saw a little twitch at the corner of Mrs. DeWitt's mouth. _Holy cow, I think she almost did. _Miley decided it was her turn to speak up. "Mrs. DeWitt, Lilly and I both tried to control our feelings for a long time because we were scared of how things might be if we told each other. And let me tell ya, trying to hold in all the love I had for Lilly, not the friend love but that deep, aching love you have for someone you just can't live without... Tryin' to hold that in was like tryin' to hold back those waves out there," she said, pointing at the ocean behind them. "It hurt, trying to hold that back," she said, speaking more from her heart than she had planned on. "And finally we just couldn't hold it back any more, and we told each other. When those feelings came out, it was like this huge pressure we had been holdin' in just let go." She stopped to take a drink of ice water, then continued. "So tell me how our love for each other isn't natural? It was trying to hold it back that wasn't natural!"

Lilly gave Miley a warm smile that wordlessly conveyed her pride in her wife, then she turned back to Mrs. DeWitt. "Whether you agree with it or not, Mrs. DeWitt, it's not going to change the fact that we're friends with your daughter and want what's best for her in everything. Miley and I aren't going to hide our feelings when we're around you."

"And we don't need your approval," Miley said, her voice tightening slightly. "We just want to be able to be polite to you, at least, for Ashley's sake."

Meredith looked at Mrs. DeWitt, but before she could say anything, a waiter came to take their orders. For several minutes, the table was quiet as drinks came, and then the first course of the meal. As the second course arrived, Meredith spoke up. "Your daughter is a dear friend to Miley and Lilly..." She paused, uncertain of her counterpart's name.

"Kimiyo," Ashley's mother said. "Kim is fine."

"Kim," Meredith said, smiling. "Ashley has become a dear friend to my girls, and I would greatly appreciate it if you gave them a chance to get to know them."

"You hated Oliver too, Mother, remember?" Ashley said. "And now you actually like seeing him."

"I don't know if I would go that far, Ashley," Kimiyo said. "But he does seem to love you very much."

"He's crazy about her!" Miley said. "Ashley's just about all he can talk about. Well, her and the police academy!"

"I worry about that," Kimiyo said suddenly. "How will he be able to provide for you if he gets hurt or killed while being a policeman?" She turned on Ashley, fire back in her eyes but just a smoldering gleam at this point.

"Mother, nothing is going to happen to him!" Ashley said. "He's going to be as careful as he can, he's already promised me! Plus it's not like I'm exactly destitute!"

Miley surreptitiously looked at Lilly, mouthing the word _destitute_. She got an equally puzzled look in return from Lilly. However, Kimiyo didn't hesitate to reply.

"No, you have plenty of money, but what will you do once your heart is broken?" she said sharply. She gestured at Miley and Lilly as she turned to look at them. "What would you do," she said to Miley as she pointed to Lilly, "if she were to die?"

Miley felt a chill grip her heart, followed by a surge of nausea in her stomach that she knew was mirrored in Lilly. "I'd be devastated," Miley finally said, holding Lilly's hand tight enough to turn their knuckles white. "I'd never be whole again. Not until I was back in her arms." She turned to Kimiyo, and now a different emotion was racing through her veins.

Lilly swallowed, because she knew exactly what Miley was feeling. This feeling of heat, of a gnawing inside her veins, of a pounding at the base of her head, of the involuntary shaking of her hands... This was _anger_ coursing through her wife's body, anger bordering on rage. Ashley's mother had just kicked a hornet's nest, and now she was about to get stung. "Miles," Lilly said gently, trying to blunt what she knew was coming. As Lilly watched Miley's face darken, she sent a single thought to her wife, hoping that she could somehow feel it. _She's scared, Miles, scared of losing her daughter._

Miley's mouth opened, then her head spun to look at Lilly, whose eyes seemed to plead with her to control her temper. As Miley looked into Lilly's glittering blue eyes, she took a deep breath. Then another. Finally she turned to Kimiyo. "Okay, that wasn't very nice," she said. "Even thinking about losing Lilly makes me sick." She swallowed, and Lilly saw a tear escape from the corner of her left eye. "Especially today," Miley said, her voice at once sad and longing. But she fought off the feeling of despair; she had a point to make. "But as much as that would hurt, I'd go on. I'd go on for Lilly, because she wouldn't want me to give up on our life. Even though she wouldn't be with me physically, she'd _never_ leave me. Just like I would never leave her. We have plans for a family of our own one day, and I'd still make that happen for her. For us. But let me tell you, when my life finally came to an end, I'd be smiling when my last breath went out, because I'd know she'd be there waiting for me." Now Miley's tears were fully running down her cheeks, but still she continued. "Sometimes we have to take a chance, Mrs. DeWitt. Yes, I could lose Lilly any time. But I'm never going to keep her from following her dreams out of that kind of fear." She stood, bumping the table in her haste. "Excuse me," she said as she turned and nearly ran to the restroom.

Lilly wordlessly stood as well, hurrying to catch up with her wife and unwilling to let Ashley's mother see the tears in her own eyes. Seconds later, Ashley did the same, glancing at her mother but not saying anything as she made her own way to the ladies' restroom.

The two older women left at the table shared an uncomfortable silence. As Kimiyo took a drink of her coffee, Meredith carefully said, "I think I know why you act this way." She saw the other woman's eyebrow raise slightly over the coffee cup.

"And why is that?" Kimiyo said, replacing her coffee cup on the pristine white tablecloth.

"She's your only child," Meredith said, and as she saw something flash behind her counterpart's dark eyes, she knew she was right. "You've already lost your husband, and now your daughter is growing up. She's not going to be there much longer, and you're afraid of losing her to someone else." Kimiyo turned away and looked out as the waves broke steadily on the shore outside the window. Meredith forced a smile on her face; it was awkward, knowing how effortlessly this woman had hurt her daughter and daughter-in-law just a moment ago, but it was genuine. "I know exactly how you feel, you know."

Kimiyo turned her gaze back to Meredith, her eyes still intense but not as hostile as they had been. The women looked into each other's eyes for long seconds, then Kimiyo spoke in a voice so soft that Meredith wasn't sure she heard it initially. "Yes," she said. "I believe you do."

Meredith nodded. "I gave my only daughter, my baby girl, away to be married a year and a half ago. She had just turned seventeen. But I had no doubts about how much that young woman with her loves her. I've seen them show that love for each other so many times that I couldn't count them all, but it never fails to amaze me." She started to reach for Kimiyo's hand, but she decided against it for now. "Miley, Lilly and Oliver have been friends for years. Lilly and Oliver really have grown up together, and Miley grew up with them once she moved here six years ago."

Kimiyo's expression was carefully neutral again as she said, "What are you trying to say?"

Meredith took a drink of her own tea, then she continued, "I'm trying to say that if Oliver feels as strongly for Ashley as Miley and Lilly feel for each other, you'll have a son-in-law who will love and protect your daughter better than you could ever hope for."

Kimiyo's bottom lip trembled for a moment as she picked her coffee cup back up, then she had herself back under firm control again. "That's what we all want for our daughters, isn't it?" she said, showing a hint of a smile.

Meredith felt as if some barrier between the two of them had fallen, finally. "Yes," she said, "it is."

As the three young women returned to the table and took their seats again, Meredith could feel the thinly disguised hostility radiating from them, and she knew something had to be done to salvage this meal. "Girls--" she said, then stopped. "Sorry. Young ladies, I'd like for you to give Kim another chance. I know that what she said was painful for you, Miley, but I understand where she's coming from." She held up her hand to stop Lilly's outburst before she could get any words out, and she rapidly added, "She's worried, girls. She's worried about losing her daughter. Losing her to Oliver, to the world, and being left alone."

She saw Lilly's mouth snap closed and Miley put her arm around her wife. "Your mom's right, Lil," Miley said. Her eyes were still reddened slightly, but her resolve was back.

Lilly turned to Mrs. DeWitt. "What you said was cruel, Mrs. DeWitt, on so many levels. I think you owe the woman I love an apology." The steel in her voice was unmistakable to everyone present.

Kimiyo looked down momentarily, then she looked up at Miley. "I am sorry for what I said," she said, her voice not haughty but instead subdued. "I was only trying to make my point, and it hurt you. Please forgive me."

Miley nodded. "I do," she said. "I bet you don't know why my Momma isn't here, do you?'

Kimiyo shook her head. "No, I assumed she was at work."

"She's dead," Miley said with a flat voice. "She died almost eight years ago, before we moved out here."

Lilly added, "That's why you asking Miley to think about how she'd feel if something happened to me hurt her so badly, especially today."

Now Kimiyo's expression collapsed, and guilt turned her face pale. "Oh, I am so sorry," she said, all pretense of anger now gone. "I truly didn't know... Miley."

Miley managed a smile, but only because Lilly had slipped her own arm around her and was holding her firmly. "Momma's still with us, in our hearts," she said. "We see her in our dreams sometimes."

Meredith was surprised at that revelation, and she made a mental note to ask them about that sometime in the future. But she was also surprised as Kimiyo smiled—SMILED—at Miley and Lilly.

"In my home country, we are brought up with the idea that our ancestors never truly leave us," Kimiyo said. "We remember them and honor them with our actions." After a pause she added, "I expect that your mother is very happy with how much you are loved today."

Miley and Lilly both smiled at that statement. "That we can agree on, Mrs. DeWitt," Miley said, thankful for the love she been fortunate enough to find in her best friend. As she looked at Ashley's mother, a flicker of movement over Kimiyo's shoulder caught Miley's eyes. She lifted her gaze to look outside the large picture window where a figure stood on the balcony, a figure with long, flowing chestnut brown hair, tossed about by the breeze rolling off the ocean. Miley could see a warm smile under the whipping hair, then the figure was gone. Miley smiled, knowing just how happy her mother truly was with her life today. "That we can agree on," she said once again as she leaned into Lilly's embrace, the one place where she knew she would always be safe.

The rest of the brunch went much more smoothly, and Miley's sharp sense of humor combined with Lilly's somewhat off-the-wall statements had everyone at the table laughing by the time they were finished. Miley and Lilly paid for everyone, much to Ashley's irritation.

"Come on, you two!" Ashley said. "I want to pay!"

"No," Lilly said as she held the check firmly, shielding it with Miley's body. "We made sure we had enough to pay for this, and it's our treat." Lilly tried not to laugh at the humor of the situation, because Ashley still didn't know who their alter egos really were. She was only trying to save her friends some money, and that was very sweet. Still, this was Lilly's idea, and she wasn't budging. She and Miley paid, leaving a rather large tip as they placed several hundred dollar bills into the check holder under the table, where no one could see. When the waiter collected the money and the check, the five women stood and walked to the door.

As they left the building they noticed the ocean breeze had turned chilly, and the distinctive tang of rain could be tasted atop of the typical sea spray. Lilly shivered suddenly, prompting Miley to pull her closer as they walked to their cars. Ashley's emerald Kompressor was nearest, and they paused as Ashley unlocked the doors. Meredith was the first to cross the vehicle and hug Kimiyo. "I had a very nice time meeting you, Kim," she said.

"Likewise," Kimiyo replied, a smile on her own face. "Maybe we could talk sometime about how you learned to back off and let your daughter live her own live?"

"Oh God, yes please!" Ashley said dramatically, tugging on Meredith's hands. "Please talk to her!"

Everyone laughed at Ashley's half-joking act, even her mother. "Enough, Ashley," Kimiyo said, not trying to hide the smile on her face. "And again, I apologize to the two of you," she said, turning to look at Miley and Lilly. "You truly have been good friends to my Ashley, even though she used to be terrible to you. Thank you for not giving up on her."

"That's what friends do," Miley said as she and Lilly both hugged Kimiyo at the same time.

"And I apologize again for bringing up bad memories for you today, Miley," she said, her voice subdued again. "I wish your mother could have been with us today."

Before Miley could say anything, Lilly said, "She was, Mrs. DeWitt. We know she was."

Miley felt the tears well up in her eyes, and she quickly hugged Meredith and Ashley, with Lilly following suit. They quickly walked to their car, where Miley crossed to the passenger side and Lilly opened the driver's door. As they sat down, Miley turned to look at Lilly as they closed the doors. As tears ran down her red cheeks, she said, "You saw her, didn't you?"

Lilly nodded, unable to hold back her own tears. "I did." She took Miley's hand and kissed it. "She was standing outside, looking at the ocean, then she turned and smiled at us."

Miley nodded her head as she bit her lip, unable to form words at the moment. Instead she expressed the tumult of emotions in the most natural way she knew. She leaned across the car and kissed Lilly hungrily, needing to hold her lover, her support system, her best friend as intimately as she could right then. As they kissed their tears ran together across their cheeks, adding a salty flavor to their kisses as several trickled into their mouths. Eventually they grew still as they held each other's head, foreheads pressed together as they kept their eyes closed, foregoing sight to instead focus on the sensation of each other's touch, each other's smell and taste.

"Happy Mother's Day, Mrs. Stewart," Lilly said, still holding Miley as her wife began to cry again softly. "We love you."

**Author's Afterword:** I hadn't planned on this chapter being so emotional, but there were some feelings that demanded to be expressed in this chapter, and I had to let them out. I didn't set out with the goal of having anyone cry while reading this chapter, but I found it hard to finish due to my own tears at several points. I had thought this would end on a lighter note, but not ending at this particular point would have been disrespectful. Next chapter our girls fly off to Washington, D.C.! And who exactly _are_ they going to be rooming with?

For those of you following the hubbub about Miley's _VF_ pics, please bear in mind that many of these media sources criticizing her and her family are using those very same pics to suck in even more readers and listeners. Which is worse, a teenager who made a mistake and realized it too late, or those seeking to exploit that mistake for their own ends? Miley, if you or anyone from Disney ever reads this, hang in there. Being a teenager is hard, and everyone is going to make mistakes. How we deal with them is what reveals the type of character we truly have, and your apology and fairly public contrition seems to indicate real regret for what you did and an understanding that posing for that type of picture wasn't a very good example for your young fans. That said, you've admitted you made a mistake, you've apologized, and now you just need to move on. Disney is still with you 100, my girls and I still adore you, and you still have your fans behind you and the world ahead of you.

Now, as for _Vanity Fair_... I'm a firm believer in our First Amendment rights, but capitalizing on partially clothed sexpot pictures of a fifteen-year-old girl is just wrong. And when that same girl says that the pictures were a mistake and asks for them to not be used, well, using those pictures _then_ to sell magazines is just reprehensible conduct and nothing more than exploiting a child as a sex object. _VF_ seems to have a preference for using young women like Keira Knightly and Lindsey Lohan for nude/semi-nude pictures, but they're at least over eighteen. Miley isn't. I hope your magazine has to face serious repercussions over your gutter mentality and low class behavior, hopefully in the form of a majority of your readers leaving your magazine and never returning.

Sorry if my little rant was a bit long, but that needed to be said. Miley, keep your head up girl! You're better than the people at _VF_, and now you've learned another lesson of life. Your appeal to your fans is your honesty and inherent goodness, and there's not a thing wrong with being that way. Your family, friends, co-workers and fans love you for who you are and for your talent. Please don't feel like you need to change your image or build up sex appeal. Grow up at your own pace and don't rush into it, for your own sake (and for that of your parents). To all my readers, thanks for going through another chapter with me, and I'll see you soon! Oh, and if anyone at Disney _is_ reading this... Let me know if you need any more writers for _Hannah Montana_. For a show my family loves (like _HM_), I'll work for free!

-- Jo --


	9. Chapter 9: Fly Me Away

**Author's Note:** I'm so glad you're back! I've been trying to catch up on my reading, and I've been loving **LaughLoveLive**'s "Back To the Future" story! I highly recommend you go read it if you haven't been following it already. It definitely puts a smile on my face when I can squeeze out time to read a new chapter during lunch. As for this story, we finally see our girls head off to D.C. this chapter! Not sure how many chapters they're going to stay, but I expect there will be some fireworks while they're there...

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 9: Fly Me Away

_When I'm lying wrapped up in your arms_

_The whole world just fades away_

_The only thing I hear_

_Is the beating of your heart_

_'Cause I can feel you breathe_

_It's washing over me_

_And suddenly I'm melting into you_

_There's nothing left to prove_

_Baby all we need is just to be_

_Caught up in the touch_

_Slow and steady rush_

_Baby, isn't that the way love's supposed to be?_

--Faith Hill; "Breathe"

"Daddy, we really don't need you to walk us to the airport gate, okay?" Miley said, her eyes pleading for her father to just drop them and their bags off and not follow them into the airport.

"Miles, this here airport is one busy place," Robbie Ray said, not realizing exactly why his daughter and daughter-in-law didn't want him to walk them to the gate.

"Really, Mr. S," Lilly said, "we can get these bags there. Plus I don't think they'll let you past the security checkpoint anyway." After a pause, Lilly decided to spell it out. "And we _are_ eighteen," she added as delicately as she could.

A glimmer of insight flashed in Robbie Ray's eye. "Ah, and it'd be a bit embarrassin' for the old man to be walkin' the two of ya up to the gate in front of your whole class."

"YES!" Miley said, trying to hang on the bit of patience she had left. While she and Lilly both felt that the Mothers' Day brunch had turned out quite successfully, it had taken them some time to emotionally recover from the morning's events. Once they had made it back to the house, they had retreated to their bedroom, where they had simply held each other on their bed for nearly an hour. They had alternated tears, sniffles, smiles and hugs as they blocked out the world around them and rested on their bed in the dark, hearts beating a shared rhythm as they allowed their minds to relax. When the alarm clock had stirred them, they gathered the few things they were taking on the trip that weren't already packed, then they were on their way.

As Miley turned her attention back to her father, she saw that he looked to be slightly hurt at how quickly she had dismissed him. As she opened her mouth, she felt a not-so-gentle poke in her ribs from her wife. "Daddy, I'm sorry," she said as she stepped forward. "I'm just really nervous, I guess. Are you gonna be okay without us?"

Now Robbie Ray grinned again. "You think I'm gonna get lonely without you two in the house?" he asked.

"Yeah," Lilly said quietly as Miley nodded in agreement.

Robbie Ray grabbed the two young women in front of him and held them tightly. "I'll make it 'til you two girls get back, I promise." He released them, then he said, "But I might get a bit lonely. Maybe I'll fly Uncle Earl out for the week to keep me company."

"Okay, if he comes out, that pig better stay out of our room!" Lilly said. "It took two hours of scrubbing to get those little noseprints off the walls the last time he brought Porkers with him!"

Miley suppressed a laugh. She had found it a bit cute to watch Lilly work so hard to keep their room sparkling clean. Before they had begun living together and even for a while after, Lilly's idea of a clean room was one where you could see most of the floor most of the time. But once it had become _their_ room after the wedding, Lilly had begun to work diligently to perform her part of the cleaning, culminating in her little grumbles of threats toward Uncle Earl's pet pig as she scrubbed away all traces of him getting in the girls' bedroom. Miley also suspected Porkers' theft of one of Lilly's favorite bras as another reason for her agitation. "Gotta go with Lilly on that one, Dad. That little side of bacon better stay clear of our room this time!"

"Relax, ladies," Robbie Ray said. "I actually am plannin' on goin' to see Mamaw for a few days while you two are gone. Figure that'll be a good time to catch up with her, Jackson and Kaela."

"That is a good idea, Daddy," Miley said. "Call us when you get there?"

"As long as you two remember to call the old man when you get to D.C."

"I think we can handle that, Mr. S," Lilly said. She gave him another hug, which Miley joined immediately. "We promise to behave."

"Mostly," Miley added with a smile as they broke the hug. "Okay Daddy, we need to get on down there. Love you!"

Lilly waved goodbye as she added, "Love you, Daddy #2!"

"Love you girls," Robbie Ray said as he watched them carry and pull their bags down toward the security checkpoint. "Even if you aren't exactly girls anymore," he added to himself.

Once they were through the security checkpoint, Miley and Lilly hurried to gate 1, where the school's plane would be boarding. Ashley's father had helped secure a very reasonable rate for chartering a midsize jet for the school trip, but due to the sheer number of students and teachers going--over a hundred in total--it had been decided to board at a regular gate to better accommodate the crowd. As the girls spotted Oliver and Ashley, they hurried over. "Are you two excited or what?" Lilly squealed happily as she grabbed both of Ashley's hands.

"This is gonna be terrific!" Ashley said in agreement. "And I really appreciated you two doing that Mothers' Day brunch thingie this morning. My mom actually smiled today after we left."

"Wow," Miley said. "Maybe she'll actually talk to us now when we call you."

"Maybe," Ashely said, hoping that her mother would finally accept her friends.

"Hey, it took her forever to stop hating me!" Oliver added, getting laughs all the way around.

Conversations were halted when Mr. Corelli loudly called for everyone's attention. "Okay, people, grab your things and form a nice, orderly line. The flight is only going to take right at three hours, but we're losing three hours due to the time zone difference, so it'll be around ten o'clock when we get there. The buses will be waiting for us at the airport to take us directly to the hotel right outside Washington. Say your goodbyes now if you've got anyone with you to see you off. Otherwise, we can start boarding."

Miley, Lilly, Oliver and Ashley moved to where the line was forming, getting a good spot. As they made their way down the steps and out across the tarmac to where the jet was sitting, they took a quick look at the intricate dance the other airplanes were performing on the ground, stopping here, turning there, surging forward far off down the runway. They climbed onto the plane, a midsize jet that could seat right at about one hundred and ten passengers. As they boarded, Miley picked a spot midway back along the fuselage, ducking into a short row of only two seats. "This one's ours," she said to Lilly, who smiled and began stuffing their carry-on bags in the compartment above their seats with the exception of their laptop, which she kept with them. They had dropped their other bags off right outside the jet, where they would be loaded before takeoff.

Ashley and Oliver slid into the row directly behind Miley and Lilly as Oliver stored his carry-on bag above the seats as well. "Hope they have a good movie on this flight," Oliver said hopefully. "It'd bite to have to watch 'The Notebook' or something like that."

"What's wrong with that?" Ashley said as Miley and Lilly tried not to laugh. "It's a sweet movie!"

"It's a girly movie!" Oliver protested, then a thought occurred to him. "But I'd watch it for you, Ash."

"Aww," Ashley said, now smiling as she rested her head on his shoulder. In front of him, Oliver saw Lilly raise her hand over the seat back and flash him a thumbs-up. _Having girls for my best friends pays off sometimes._

As Miley and Lilly fiddled with the air jets, getting them arranged just right, someone slammed into the armrest of Lilly's seat. They looked up to see the glowering face of Janelle Gertz, Amber's apparent friend. She had dressed down for the trip, only wearing dagger-shaped silver earrings, an ankh necklace on a silver chair, bright blue lipstick and a black t-shirt that proudly stated _YUCK FOU_.

"Watch where you're going, Gertz," Lilly said, gesturing at Janelle's large carry-on.

"Good idea, Truscott," Janelle replied. "Maybe that way I can slam this bag into your face instead of your seat." She turned her face away and continued on down the aisle.

"Bitch," Miley said under her breath. "We gotta keep an eye on her, Lil."

"Yeah," Lilly said. "Especially after those other girls started hanging around her." Recently Janelle had attracted several hangers-on, both boys and girls, with her rising status as a troublemaker. Though not as frightening as the Cracker, Janelle could still be intimidating, and her mysterious involvement with Amber Addison made her even more disturbing.

As the seats on the plane filled, excitement grew. For several students this would be their first trip on an airplane, and their excitement and apprehension tended to be rather obvious. As the plane taxied slowly and then finally surged forward as it took off, Miley and Lilly linked hands and shared a quick, subtle kiss. Once the plane leveled off several minutes later at its cruising altitude, Lilly found a blanket and two pillows. They quickly unbuckled their seat belts and turned sideways in the seat with Miley leaning against the fuselage and holding Lilly as the two of them reclined slightly. They quickly covered up with the blanket and feel asleep, knowing that Oliver and Ashley would watch over them.

After slightly more than three hours, the plane landed at Ronald Reagan Airport. Two buses were waiting at the terminal, and the changeover of students and luggage was accomplished smoothly. While it was past ten o'clock local time, the students were still on California time, and almost all of them were wound up as they loaded onto the buses. Miley and Lilly made a point to get the bus that Janelle didn't choose, and within minutes they were en route to Alexandria, Virginia, where their hotel was. The drive took about fifteen minutes, and along the way Mr. Corelli pointed out the Pentagon on their right as they approached and finally passed it.

"Wow, that place is huge!" Lilly said as they took in the sheer size of the enormous building. "And it's still really far away."

Miley was impressed as well. "It doesn't look that big when you see pictures of it. How many stories is it?"

"Dunno," Lilly said, still looking out the window as she leaned across Miley's body. As she leaned back, the bus slowed down as it took an exit almost immediately after. Minutes later the two buses pulled into the unloading area of the Crystal City Marriott. As the murmur of voices grew rapidly to a din, Mr. Corelli stood and yelled, "OKAY! Quieten down!" As the students complied, he said, "I have to go in and get the room keys. When I get back we'll go over room assignments."

Before they had left, the students had been told they would be staying four boys or four girls to a room with few exceptions. Teachers would be staying two men or two women to a room, again with few exceptions. Miley and Lilly had originally planned to room with Jamie Escante and Gina Giles, Lilly's soccer teammates. However, Jamie's parents were still against their daughter's relationship with another girl, and they had boisterously complained to the school about allowing the two girls to room together or with another lesbian couple. Faced with such parental resistance, Mr. Corelli had asked Jamie and Gina to stay in separate rooms and away from Miley and Lilly. While disappointed, the two girls had understood that refusing would have probably resulted in Jamie not being allowed to go on the trip, and so they had reluctantly agreed. Their soccer teammates made room for each of them in separate but adjoining rooms, which the girls were happy about.

When Miley and Lilly had heard about the forced change, they told Mr. Corelli that they'd be happy to room with almost anyone else... as long it wasn't Janelle Gertz or her friends. The events of the Senior Prom still weighted heavily on Mr. Corelli's mind, and he was happy to keep any other potential trouble away from Miley and Lilly. Ashley had already made plans to stay with three of her other friends and the three of them weren't willing to find someone else to room with, so Ashley wanted to stay with them. In the end it had been decided to combine the Mrs. Truscotts with two others assigned to a room by themselves: Sarah and Ms. Hughes, the first-year English teacher. Miley and Lilly were fairly sure they could get along with Sarah, but they knew almost nothing about Ms. Hughes other than almost every male at Seaview was spellbound by the pretty young redhead.

After several minutes of chatter on the bus, Ms. Hughes came back onto the chartered bus. Whistles and catcalls resounded as many of the boys took advantage of the darkness to show their appreciation for the pretty teacher's good looks. After a few seconds, the calls settled down, allowing Ms. Hughes to speak. "Okay, if I call out your name, you're going to be on the seventh floor with my group of teachers. Each teacher will be responsible for two rooms of students, so _pay attention_ because your assigned teacher will have your room keys." Remarkably, everyone listened, and in short order the room assignments had been called out. Now having some idea of where they were going, the students disembarked and began grabbing luggage as it was unloaded off the two buses. Miley and Lilly just stayed close to Ms. Hughes and soon enough Sarah made her way to them.

"Thanks for letting me room with you two," Sarah happily said. Her bubbly demeanor was back in full force, which Miley and Lilly were hoping wouldn't prove too irritating.

"You're welcome, Sarah," Miley said as she helped Lilly stack their smaller bags on her larger suitcase which she could pull behind her.

"I hope you two like to listen to the soothing sounds of the rainforest! I brought my radio with several of my _Nature Sounds_ CDs to listen to while we sleep. It helps the mind relax and induces deeper, more restful sleep." She then turned and hurried over to Ms. Hughes, who was waving at the three girls.

"Oh give me--" Lilly began to say until she was cut off by Miley kicking the back of her leg. "OW!"

Miley gave Lilly a pleading look, but she realized she had kicked her wife a bit harder than she had planned on.

"Miley!" Lilly hissed in a loud whisper to her wife. As Miley leaned over for Lilly to whisper in her ear, Lilly said, "You didn't have to kick me that hard, you know!"

An abashed look fell across Miley's face. "Sorry, Lil, I just didn't want you to hurt her feelings."

Lilly's eyes increased in size at that. "Miley, this is SARAH we're talking about! I don't think anything short of burning recyclable plastics or shooting a spotted owl could hurt her feelings!" she whispered back.

Their conversation was interrupted by Sarah, who handed them two keys for the room. "We're in room 717," she said cheerily. "Ms. Hughes said to go on up because it'd take her a few minutes to make sure everyone gets their stuff unloaded."

"Thanks," Miley and Lilly said in unison, making the two of them smile as they turned to follow Sarah into the hotel.

After a fast trip through the lobby and then a ride up the elevator, they found themselves outside their room. Sarah put her card in the lock and opened the door, then they checked the other two cards as well to ensure all of them worked. As they entered the room, they were impressed by the size of where they would be staying for several days. While not as large as a suite, the room was significantly larger than any of them had expected, with two queen-sized beds, a dining table, a work desk, an entertainment center with a flatscreen television and two large dressers. The bathroom was roughly the size of their bathroom back home, so all four of them would manage with it, even if they'd have to coordinate bathroom times carefully. Miley and Lilly planned on being particularly careful with shower times, as they knew those would probably be the only times they could have to be intimate with each other. They definitely planned on making the most of those precious times.

"Cool," Lilly said as she looked around the room. "Better than I was afraid of." She saw Miley pull out her phone and start calling their parents to notify them that they had arrived safely.

"Lilly, do you two mind to take the bed closer to the air conditioner?" Sarah asked as she hefted her single large suitcase onto the bed farther away from the air conditioning unit. "Being too close to that thing will really bother my sinuses."

"We don't mind at all," Lilly said, smiling at Sarah. Sarah had still been trying to spend time with Dani, but the demands of Dani's volleyball team had been pulling the two apart. Lilly suspected there was some other tension between the two, but she'd have to be very delicate when inquiring about it. Sarah and Dani had been extremely careful to keep their relationship, mild as it was, a strict secret.

The conversation was interrupted as Ms. Hughes came into the room, tugging her suitcases behind her. "Sorry about that, had to finish getting the rest of the rooms arranged. You girls worked out closet space and drawers yet?"

Lilly laughed, and the happy emotion in it made Miley inadvertently turn and smile at her lover as she clicked her phone shut. "We just got the beds assigned, Ms. Hughes," Lilly said.

"Anyone mind if I run to the restroom first?" Ms. Hughes asked. When no one objected, she smiled and said, "Thanks."

Lilly yawned and stretched, feeling her shoulders pop slightly as she extended her arms. "I'm about ready to curl up next to you, Miles. Long trip."

Miley smiled as she kissed Lilly on the cheek. "Sounds good to me, girlfriend." She turned to Sarah and said, "We'll behave ourselves."

"We promise," Lilly added. "And we'll wear pajamas while we're here."

Sarah turned slightly red. "You two don't, uh, usually...?" she asked hesitantly.

"No," Lilly said simply. "Not usually." She kept a small smile on her face, trying not to laugh at Sarah embarrassing herself. "We really don't want to make anyone uncomfortable on this trip," Lilly said with a pause before she continued, "but I draw the line when it comes to holding my Miley. Not giving that up for _anybody_."

As Lilly spoke, Miley slipped off her shirt and pulled on her lime green pajama top, handing Lilly her matching set. "You better not give that up," Miley said, winking at Lilly. "I might get mad if you did." She threw her shorts across the room to her open suitcase, then she stepped into her pajama short bottoms. "You want to watch TV for a bit, Lil?"

"Sure," Lilly said simply as she tugged on her pajamas without a hint of either showing off her toned body or shame in revealing it.

Sarah watched the two of them, so effortlessly loving as they piled their pillows together and stretched out atop the bed. No movement was wasted or out of place as they put theirs arms around each other and entangled their legs together, as if they had been doing this for years. _And they have_, Sarah reminded herself. _They're married, they have no reason to hide their feelings for each other. No risk of being disowned or of breaking their parents' hearts. Not like me._ She turned away and walked to the bathroom, passing Ms. Hughes, who came out wearing a long pink nightshirt. "Sorry," Sarah mumbled as she accidentally stepped in her teacher's way, then shifted to the side to hurry into the bathroom.

"It's okay," Ms. Hughes said, but the door closed on her words. She turned away from the door and walked back into the room, stopping as she saw Miley and Lilly holding each other tightly as they flipped through the channels with the remote. _They're married, Cassie,_ she thought to herself as she looked at them. _You're okay with this. It's different than what you're used to, but you know Miley and Lilly are sweet young ladies. They're trusting you to be a good roommate just like you're trusting them. And it's not like you've never fooled around with another woman._

Cassie Hughes smiled as she thought back to her senior year in college. She had roomed with the same young woman for all four years of college, and their friendship had grown steadily. That last year, after a party on their floor, they had fallen into bed together. They had drank enough to loosen their inhibitions but not so much that they forget everything the next morning. After a passionate night, they awoke in each other's arms—and liked it. For the rest of the school year they had carried on an intense relationship, but that ended as the school year drew to a close. Her roommate was headed to law school in Chicago, and Cassie was starting her student teaching in California. They ended their time together with a last night of lovemaking, mixing kisses of love with tears of sadness as they touched each other one final night. The next day was graduation, and following that they embraced and kissed one last time before they parted as more than just friends. Over the last year they had seen each other a few times, but both of them had moved on in their romantic lives. However, the time they spent together cemented their friendship in a way few could ever understand. Cassie knew she could trust Jenni with anything... including her growing crush on someone at Seaview, something she had just realized herself.

"You okay, Ms. Hughes?" Lilly asked, breaking her reminiscence.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine," she said hurriedly. "Just thinking about an old friend of mine in college." She walked over and turned back the covers and slid into bed before she looked back over and saw knowing looks on the faces of the young women in the bed next to hers. "What?" she said, trying to sound indignant but instead sounding much more like she had just been caught. "What?" she said again, a bit louder this time but still unable to get the grin off her face.

Miley just grinned in return, but Lilly said, "Must have been a _really_ good friend of yours," her own grin quite obvious.

_Dammit. They're good._ "Jenni's still one of my best friends, but we left that part of our relationship behind when we graduated from Stanford." _Why__ are you explaining this to them?_

"We totally understand about that kind of thing," Miley said quietly. "We were best friends for years before we realized we were in love. And you can trust us to not tell anyone about you and your friend."

_They understand. That's why you're telling them this, because not many people __can__ understand it._ "For us it made our friendship stronger. When I talk to her, I know that I can trust her with anything, because we've been as close as two people could be." She laughed once. "She was the only girl I ever did that with, and I was the only one for her too. We've always liked guys, both before and after."

Lilly reached across Miley and took Miley's right hand with her left, leaving her left arm lying across Miley's chest just short of her breasts. "It made our friendship stronger too," Lilly said. "I don't think I could be closer to Miley than I am right now."

Miley turned away from the television to look down at her wife. "I can think of one thing, Lilly. That could make us closer, I mean."

Lilly looked back up for a few seconds before she got Miley's meaning. "Oh yeah!" she said excitedly, then her expression sobered. "But we have to wait a few years for that, hon."

"Yeah," Miley agreed. "At least 'til we're outta college."

Cassie was intrigued by this conversation. "What are you two talking about?" she asked curiously.

The two young women turned to look at her. "One day," Miley said as she placed a kiss on Lilly's head, "I'm gonna to have this woman's baby."

"And one day I'm gonna have hers," Lilly said, leaning up to kiss Miley on the lips.

As Cassie listened to that simple but heartfelt exchange, she felt her eyes water with tears. _My God, they're so young, but they already have things figured out. More than that, they have things PLANNED out. They're totally serious. How did they get so mature so fast?_

"Are you okay, Ms. Hughes?" Lilly asked, now nervous. "We didn't mean to, uh... whatever we did."

Miley joined Lilly in looking over at their teacher. "You asked, Ms. Hughes, and we just told you the truth." They hadn't meant to upset her, but Miley wasn't going to apologize for being totally in love with Lilly, or for showing it. The time for that foolishness had passed long ago. They were together, and they were proud of each other.

"You didn't do anything except impress me, Lilly. Or you, Miley," Cassie said as she dried her eyes on her sheet. "The emotion in what you two said just caught me off guard." She looked back over at them and said, "Now I see why Mr. Corelli said that the two of you are more in love than anyone he's ever seen."

Now it was Miley and Lilly's turn to blush. They squirmed a bit closer to each other as they both mumbled out their thanks, interrupted by Sarah coming back into the room. She had put on a long, knee-length tie-dye nightshirt and pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

"Did I interrupt something?" Sarah asked as she saw Miley and Lilly's red faces. "It must have been good for you two to be embarrassed."

"Ms. Hughes just said something really sweet that we weren't expecting," Miley said, fanning hers and Lilly's faces.

"I said that I saw why Mr. Corelli likes to say that they're more in love than any couple he's ever seen," Cassie said. "And I think it's sweet," she added, directing the last part to Miley and Lilly.

Sarah turned off the room's light as she climbed into the bed. "I think it's sweet too," she said with a wistful look at her friends as they held each other closely.

Miley's yawn made Lilly snatch the remote from her wife. "I think it's bedtime, Miles," Lilly said. "We have to get up really early in the morning." She looked over at the others. "You two mind if we take the first shower? We can get in before you wake up."

"That's fine with me," Cassie said, "but I'd be happy to--"

"Oh no, you go ahead and sleep a little later!" Lilly said hurriedly, cutting her off. "We like to take a shower first thing in the morning!"

Miley rolled over slightly so that she and Lilly were both lying on their sides, looking into each other's eyes. She softly whispered, "I want you too, Lilly." Miley leaned forward enough to kiss her wife, taking great pains to limit the intensity of the kiss for now. "You want to get in the shower right now?" she whispered again.

Lilly's eyes twinkled slightly in the glow cast from the television. "I can wait until the morning," she whispered back. "I got a good taste of you this morning, remember?"

Miley smiled. "Yeah, I remember," she said, her whisper a bit louder. "Turn off the TV so I can give you a real goodnight kiss."

Lilly lifted her head and said, "TV's going off! Good night you two!" She clicked the power button, plunging the room into a darkness lit only for a few seconds as the afterglow of the television rapidly faded out.

"Good night!" Sarah said. "Good night to you too, Ms. Hughes."

"Good night girls," Cassie said as she rolled over onto her side. As she heard Miley's and Lilly's breathing intensify across the room, she smiled in the dark and said, "You two can kiss good night before you turn off the lights, you know. We're big girls. I don't think we'll be struck blind by a display of affection between the two of you."

Two giggles came from across the way, then a voice followed. "Yeah, but this way I can get serious about kissin' my wife!" Miley said, drawing laughs from their roommates before she and Lilly resumed saying goodnight to each other in their own way.

**Author's Afterword:** The next chapter should come a bit more quickly than this last one. All my daughters have been sick this past two weeks, and I lost a day or two with it as well. I'm trying to get the chapters down and proofread as soon as possible, I promise. See you as soon as I can get the next one done!

-- Jo --


	10. Chapter 10: Hold Me Dear

**Author's Note:** Welcome back! Hope everyone is continuing to enjoy the story so far, and I always appreciate the nice reviews and comments. Before anything else, I have to thank my friend **LaughLoveLive** for his outstanding help on D.C. geography, which I greatly appreciate. I've been there several times, but he's the real expert.

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 10: Hold Me Dear

_I wonder why_

_I feel so high though I am not above the sorrow_

_Heavy-hearted 'til you call my name_

_And it sounds like church bells_

_Or the whistle of a train on a summer evening_

_I want to meet you barefoot, barely breathing_

--Sophie B. Hawkins; "As I Lay Me Down"

The sound of Hannah Montana's "The Best Of Both Worlds" coming from her cell phone stirred Lilly Truscott from her deep sleep. She sleepily reached for the phone, being careful not to move the warm, strong arm she felt wrapped around her chest. As she blindly found the phone and turned off its alarm, she realized exactly where the hand attached to her wife's arm was. And what it had just begun doing.

"Mmm, be careful Miles," Lilly said softly. Miley's fingers were gently rubbing her left breast through her pajama top, and her body was beginning to react to the gentle arousal. "We're not at home, remember." She rolled over and put her own right hand on her wife's chest, finding her own target as she undid a button and slipped her own hand underneath Miley's top. "We should really get into the shower to do this," she whispered.

Miley's fingers stopped tickling Lilly's nipple as she sucked in a quick breath, triggered by Lilly's own attentions to Miley. "Yeah, you're right, hon," Miley whispered. She gave Lilly a quick kiss, followed by a slightly longer and deeper one before she gently pulled Lilly's hand out of her pajama top. "Dirty girl," she said with a flirtatious grin.

"And you love it," Lilly replied, her own grin just as flirty.

"Yep, I sure do." Miley eased the covers back and stood up, stealing a glance at their roommates, still soundly asleep. She helped Lilly stand and then they quietly walked to the bathroom, trying hard not to giggle as they padded their way across the hotel room. As they stepped onto the cool tile and Lilly shut the door, Miley turned on the bathtub, feeling the water until it was the right temperature, then she lifted the plunger and shifted the stream of water to the shower head. She stood and smiled as she felt Lilly's fingers finish undoing the buttons on her pajama top. "You itchin' for somethin', Lil?" she said over her left shoulder.

Soft kisses on the right side of her neck answered Miley's question. "Yeah," Lilly said with a low voice. "You." She pulled Miley's pajama top off, tossing it to the floor atop her own discarded pajamas. As she reached down and pulled Miley's bottoms and panties off, she let them drop to the floor as she gripped Miley's perfect stomach. "I love you so much, Miles," she whispered.

Miley's hands drifted down to Lilly's hip, feeling only warm skin instead of silky fabric. "You already naked?" Miley asked, surprise in her voice.

"Uh huh," Lilly mumbled as she rubbed Miley's belly.

Miley made a noise somewhere between a squeak and a squeal as she rubbed her fingertips over Lilly's hips and then her butt. "Get in the shower with me," she said, her voice dropping to its lowest, sexiest timbre of its own accord.

Lilly actually growled softly as the two young women stepped into the shower together, not releasing her lover from her grip. "You turn me on so much when you talk to me in that voice, Miley," she said as they felt the warm spray hit their bodies. They turned so that Miley's front was closest to the water, then Lilly's right hand began to drift downward.

"Oh yeah," Miley breathed out as she felt Lilly shift her grip. "Go ahead, Lil, please."

Hearing her wife plead for her touch wiped any thought of taking it slow from Lilly's mind. She shifted her left arm to hold Miley just underneath her breasts and then slipped her right hand down where Miley needed it, then she gently slid her middle finger inside her best friend. Miley sucked in a breath and stood on her tiptoes as Lilly began to make love to her, finally rocking back onto her heels and leaning back into Lilly as she closed her eyes and smiled. "I love you, Miley," Lilly whispered again and again, "I love you. I love you so much." Finally Lilly felt Miley's grip shift as her short fingernails dug into Lilly's hips, signaling how close she was to her orgasm. Lilly licked Miley's left earlobe and slid a second finger in, curling her fingers just right to caress Miley how she liked it best. Immediately Miley grunted and shivered, her breath hissing in, pausing, and then back out between her clenched teeth as her entire body shook once, twice, then a third time as Lilly held her securely. As she felt Miley's muscles slacken, Lilly tenderly withdrew her fingers and shifted her right hand and arm to grip Miley across her abdomen, continuing to hold her firmly as her wife slowly came back to reality. Lilly was careful to keep her right hand out of the water's spray, because she wasn't through driving Miley crazy just yet. She smiled as she thought a few seconds ahead.

"You screwed my eyes back in my head with that one, lover," Miley said as she recovered from the powerful orgasm. She patted Lilly's left arm and turned as she felt Lilly's grip loosen. "Your turn," Miley said as she looked into Lilly's blue eyes, brimming with desire. As Miley watched, she saw Lilly bring her right hand up in front of their faces, wiggling her fingers to show Miley the glistening wetness on them. "Yeah, you did good, Lil," Miley said with a grin, but her voice faded as she watched Lilly smile and slip each finger into her mouth, one at a time, as she sucked every bit of Miley off of them. Miley felt her mouth water suddenly at Lilly's silent declaration of how much she loved every part of Miley, and without even thinking Miley fell to her knees and pushed Lilly backwards slightly. "Down here," she managed to get out as her eyes fixed on her target; as Lilly obligingly laid down, Miley slid back until she was below the water's spray, out of its path. She handed Lilly a washcloth to cover her face against the water's spray and then grabbed Lilly's legs and not so gently pulled her lover closer to her, not stopping until Lilly's head and chest were under the water's spray and her pelvis was out of it. Once she had her wife where she wanted her, Miley reached under Lilly and tried to lift her butt off the tub. Lilly knew what Miley was doing, and she braced her legs and lifted herself off the porcelain to give Miley full access to anything she wanted. She turned her head to keep the spray off her chest from filling her nose and then she gripped anything she could with her hands, because she recognized the look she had seen in Miley's eyes. Her wife was about to rock her world.

Miley took a good look at the part of Lilly that only she was allowed to see, to smell, to taste and touch. Then she leaned forward and began to lick the young woman she had pledged her life to, gently at first but quickly becoming more firm and more aggressive. As she tasted Lilly she felt the rest of the world pull away, leaving only the two of them and the warm, steamy water above them as she hungrily made love to her wife. The roaring in her ears from her own arousal finally subsided to the point that she could hear Lilly's cries of pleasure as she twisted while in Miley's grip. Miley refused to let go, however, and she took Lilly deeper and deeper into her orgasms until finally she felt Lilly's fingers tangle themselves in Miley's hair and tug firmly. Miley knew what that signaled, and she immediately let Lilly go and crawled forward to lift Lilly up off the bathtub's floor. She pulled Lilly's twitching body into her lap as she sat, shielding her wife from the water's spray with her back as she held and rocked her, whispering her love for Lilly into her ear as she held her for one minute, then two. Finally Miley felt Lilly's arms wrap around her body, and she knew her best friend was coming back down from ecstasy. She gently kissed Lilly on her forehead and was rewarded with a smile and then Lilly's eyes fluttering open.

"Hey," Lilly said softly.

"Hey," Miley replied, smiling as she considered how amazingly beautiful Lilly truly was, especially immediately after an orgasm.

"Love you," Lilly said as her eyes closed again, then slowly opened.

"Love you too." Miley couldn't help but smile as she looked down at the peace and joy reflected on Lilly's face.

As if reading her wife's mind, Lilly said, "I feel so safe when you're holding me, Miley." She snuggled in closer to Miley, gently placing a soft kiss on Miley's left breast as she did so. "So safe and so happy." She grinned more broadly, then she snickered and said, "I think the feeling's coming back below my waist."

Miley giggled herself at her wife's statement. "I sure as heck had fun makin' love to you, girlfriend, and you seemed to like it too."

"You could say that," Lilly said, her smile fixed on her face. "I love how your accent gets stronger when you're turned on. I think it's sexy."

Miley felt her heart skip a beat at Lilly's words. "I don't think either of us could handle any more right now, Lilly Bear."

Lilly laughed, then she said, "I think you're right." She leaned her head back, catching some of the water's spray around Miley. "Whoo," she said softly as she took in several deep breaths. She then shifted in Miley's lap, sitting up slightly. "Thank you," she said as she placed several kisses on Miley's lips between each word, "for making such hot, sexy, wonderful love to me." She smiled and hugged Miley tightly, then she said, "We need to actually take a shower now, lover. Or we'll run out all the hot water."

The two of them slowly stood, each holding to other until they were sure of their balance. Miley then said, "Lilly, we're in a motel. We won't run out of hot water."

Lilly considered that. "Oh. Well, then, before they wake up."

Miley smiled as she handed Lilly her shampoo. "I'll buy that," she said as she leaned back to put her head under the water.

After ten minutes, they had washed their hair and their bodies and stepped out of the shower. They dried off and then slipped on their bras and panties, a soft blue today for each article of clothing. Lilly had brought each of them a robe, a pink Lola Luftnagle one for Miley and a yellow Hannah Montana one for Lilly; they put on their robes and opened the door to let some of the steam out. They began brushing out their hair, taking turns drying each other's hair until they were satisfied. They stepped out of the bathroom and saw that the television was on. Sarah was sitting on the bed watching a show about elephants while Cassie was fixing a pot of coffee using the small coffee machine on the room's table.

As Miley and Lilly came back into the main room, Sarah and Cassie watched them carefully. Miley and Lilly looked around as Lilly finally said, "Okay, what?"

Cassie walked by them and smiled as she gently patted first Miley, then Lilly on the head. "You two get loud when you're having sex," she said. As the two girls slightly blushed, she added, "And whichever one of you that was howling and screaming at the end? WOW. I'm impressed."

Now Miley and Lilly _really_ blushed. "Sorry, we didn't mean to get so loud," Miley said as Lilly buried her face in Miley's chest laughing. Miley managed to get out, "Hey, we waited until we were in the shower," before she started laughing herself. Cassie and Sarah both joined them in laughter until all four of them were gasping for breath.

"Well," Cassie said, "at least you girls aren't going to be boring roommates."

By eight o'clock everyone was dressed and ready to go. Miley was wearing a soft gray t-shirt and blue jeans, while Lilly had on her favorite olive green half-sleeve shirt with dark brown cargo shorts. Both girls were wearing tennis shoes because they expected to do lots of walking; they each also took a light jacket just in case it was chilly this early in the morning.

On the schedule for today were trips to the Capitol Building, the Supreme Court and the National Archives. Lunch would be at the Supreme Court in the cafeteria inside the building, with plans for the students to eat outside if the weather permitted. Following the National Archives, the plan was to let the students have some time at the Shops at Crystal City beneath the hotel. Crystal City was an underground shopping and dining area similar to a shopping mall but extending beneath several city blocks. It housed its own Metro station for movement around the city and connected to several other business above it besides just the Marriott the students were staying in.

After taking the Metro to within walking distance of the Capitol, Miley and Lilly quickly got used to standing in line. Standing in line to get into the Capitol Building, standing in line for the tour, standing in line to walk to the Supreme Court, standing in line to get their food... The only break they got from standing in line was during the actual tours of the Capitol and the Supreme Court, when they instead followed their tour guide, an older woman in her fifties who carried around an open bright orange umbrella, which they were supposed to follow. She said it made it easier for larger groups to follow something like that instead of a particular person, but Lilly expressed her own opinion about the umbrella.

"It looks goofy," Lilly had said to Miley, getting a few snickers from others around them. "Maybe she's some serial killer, who collects umbrellas from poor high school students she murders. Who's to say she's not gonna pick one of us as her next victim?"

"You don't have an umbrella," Oliver helpfully said.

"Oh yeah," Lilly said, her face brightening considerably. Miley just rolled her eyes and followed her girlfriend along on the tour.

After lunch they were on their way to the National Archives when Miley's phone rang. She pulled it out and checked the number, then she answered it. "Hi Daddy!"

"_Hey Miles, how are you and Lilly doin'?"_

"We're doing great. Seeing all sorts of halfway interesting stuff."

"_You could sound a bit more excited, Miles. You two are gettin' a chance to see history. This is a big trip, goin' to see how our government works."_

"Well, it's been kinda dull so far. Not much going on in the Capitol or the Supreme Court today," Miley said honestly. "But we're on our way to see the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence right now, so that should be cool."

"_Well, good. Oh, I got a call this mornin' about--"_

Robbie Ray's sentence was interrupted as Lilly's head, resting on Miley's shoulder as she napped, tipped slightly as the bus took a turn. Miley nearly dropped her phone as she scrambled to catch Lilly's head before it fell forward, narrowly saving her wife from bonking her head on the seat back in front of them. "Sorry Daddy, I didn't hear that last bit," Miley said when she finally got her phone and Lilly's head under control. "Can you say it again?"

"_I said that Rolling Stone magazine wants to put you and Lilly on the cover in two weeks."_

Miley's mouth fell open. "That is SO COOL!" she said happily. "Lilly'll be tickled to hear that, she loves that magazine."

"_They're gonna shoot the cover with you two next week once you get back, but they want to do a telephone interview that they can run in the next issue before the special one with you two comes out."_

Miley nodded her head happily as she said, "Sure! When do they want to do it?"

There was a pause before Robbie Ray's voice came back. _"They need to do it tonight or tomorrow night to beat the deadline. You think you can do it?"_

Miley thought for a minute. "Yeah, I think we can do it," she said finally. "It'll be tricky, but I think we can manage."

"_Alrighty, then I'll call 'em back up and get a time and a number for you to call tonight. Sound good?"_

"Sounds good, Daddy. Shoot for tomorrow night if you can. Love you."

"_Love you two too. And I already told 'em it'd probably be tomorrow night."_

"Oh, and tell Mamaw and everybody that Lilly and I said hi and that we love them too!"

"_I'll do that, darlin'. Be careful up there, you hear?"_

"We will, Daddy. Just call me back later, okay?"

"_You got it, bud. Bye."_

"Bye," Miley said as she clicked off the phone. Lilly began to stir beside her.

"Whazzup, Miles?" Lilly mumbled.

"I'll tell you later, hon," Miley said casually. "Not the kind of thing we can talk about here."

Lilly raised an eyebrow as she looked at Miley. It was all Miley could do not to laugh at the move that Lilly had learned from her, because she did it very well. After a few seconds, Lilly said, "Now you've got me intrigued."

"Good, that'll make it so much better when you really find out," Miley said, well aware that Lilly would eventually attempt to get the information out of her. At that statement Lilly slightly shrugged her shoulders and snuggled in closer to Miley, resting her head again on her best friend's shoulder.

"Mr. Corelli!" called out a voice a few seats back on the other side of the aisle. "Please make my lesbian classmates stop their disgusting PDAs on the bus!"

Lilly's eyes shot open and she sat up so fast that she nearly cracked heads with Miley. She looked back and saw Janelle Gertz smiling innocently at her; as Lilly looked, Janelle subtly gave her an obscene gesture. However, before Lilly could reply, the voice of Gina Giles, her soccer teammate, piped up from further back in the bus. "Excuse me, Jan, but not all the lesbians on this bus are actively engaging in PDAs, just the married ones. How about finding something else to look at if you don't like seeing them hold each other."

Janelle spun in her seat. "Stay out of this, Giles! I've got plenty of hateful comments for you and your little girlfriend after I'm done with the Dyke Queens."

"You're done with it now, Janelle!" yelled Mr. Corelli from the front of the bus. He stood and made his way back through the bus, being careful to hang onto the seats while the bus was still moving. He coughed twice, then he looked at Miley and Lilly and softly said, "Sit up ladies, please." He then turned to look at Janelle and said, "Ms. Gertz, if you continue to make comments like your previous ones to either Miley, Lilly, Gina or Jamie, then I'll put your tail on a Greyhound bus back to Malibu. You should get there in about three or four days." The bus fell totally silent as the students tried to decide whether he would truly follow up on his threat.

After long moments Janelle said, "Sorry Mr. Corelli." She wasn't entirely sure he had what it took to back up his threat, but there was a real possibility he might; she couldn't take that chance.

As the bus came to a stop and Mr. Corelli returned to the front, conversation resumed at a lower volume. The students quickly filed off the bus and got in line to enter the building. As Miley and Lilly walked through the building, they surprised themselves at how much they enjoyed this particular building. It had been interesting to see the Capitol Building and the Supreme Court, but they didn't get to actually see any business being conducted, just the architecture, statues and locations. But here they could see the true documents they had read about, the Constitution of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 19th Constitutional Amendment that gave women the right to vote, the Louisiana Purchase.

Miley got a chill when she saw the Declaration of Independence, lying peacefully underneath its protective case. She didn't turn to look at Lilly, but she felt Lilly come up beside her and slip her hand into her own. Miley squeezed her friend's hand as the two of them looked at the document, yellowed with age but still quite readable. "It's over two hundred years old," Miley said.

"Yeah," Lilly said with awe in her own voice. "And you can still read it. This is what started our country, Miley."

Miley nodded. Her eyes were blurring with tears, which surprised her completely.

"What's wrong, honey?" Lilly asked as she saw Miley tearing up.

Miley wiped her eyes. "I was always raised to love this country. Not necessarily the people running it or some of the things we did, but what America stood for. You know, acceptance of others, forgiveness, freedom to live your own life without other people telling you what you and can't do. And now seeing this, with my own eyes..."

"It really sinks in, that a group of people sat down and had the courage to write this out and then fight for what we have today, right?"

Miley nodded. Lilly had gotten exactly what she was feeling, and she should have known she would. Miley turned and hugged Lilly tightly. She didn't need to kiss her right now, just to hold her and be held in return. After long moments, Miley stepped back. "Thanks," she said to Lilly, a slight smile on her face.

"Anytime, Miles," Lilly said, smiling in return. They linked hands and walked further around the rotunda, pausing to take in each document on display. When they reached the U.S. Constitution, they looked at it, then the Bill of Rights. Lilly spoke up and said, "Maybe one day we'll be looking at another amendment to the Constitution here."

Miley's head lifted up. Now it was her turn to understand exactly what Lilly was thinking, and she smiled. "Say, one that lets people like us get married legally in this country?"

Lilly smiled back broadly. "That is _exactly_ what I'm talking about, girlfriend," she said slowly and carefully. "One day."

"One day," Miley echoed, although no doubt existed in her mind as to the validity of their marriage. No matter what the laws of America said, God had put her and Lilly together and no one, no law, and no event would ever separate them.

Lilly turned to look at Miley, her face serious. "Miley, I think you already know that our marriage goes deeper than just words or a license. Whether it's legal to get married here or not, the two of us were put together a long time ago, and no one on earth can go against that."

Miley laughed as she hugged Lilly. "I was just thinking the same thing, girlfriend. 'What God has put together, let no man pull apart,' right?"

"Right. Or no woman." Lilly's smile was radiant. Once again that mysterious connection between them had shown just how powerful it truly was. While she tried not to think about death, being surrounded by all this history made it difficult not to estimate the weight of the years. Unbidden, Lilly's thoughts drifted to the future, a future that she hoped would be many years and many children and grandchildren away. She felt her eyes sting as she fought back the tears, which she knew Miley would feel through that same connection she was contemplating at that very moment.

"What is it, Lilly?" Miley said, concerned at the gnawing sensation deep in her stomach.

"I need to go outside, Miley, to get some air."

Miley turned and helped Lilly leave the line and make their way directly to the door. She saw Ms. Hughes look at the two of them, so Miley quickly waved her off, trying to convey that things were okay even though she wasn't exactly sure they were. As they got outside, Miley led Lilly to one of the corners to the side of the entrance. She helped Lilly sit down in the cool shadows, where the crush of people didn't exist. "What's wrong Lilly Bear?" Miley asked, her voice obviously full of concern.

"It's dumb," Lilly sniffed, her gaze fixed down on the stone floor they were sitting on.

"Hey," Miley said as she lifted Lilly's chin up so they were looking into each other's eyes. "It's not dumb if it's got you upset, okay?"

Lilly nodded. "It's silly, I guess." When Miley didn't say anything, Lilly continued. "I was thinking about, you know, how we can tell when each other is upset or scared or something."

"Or when we're happy," Miley added. "That's one of the best feelings ever, when I can feel how happy you are with things."

Lilly smiled and nodded again. "Yeah, that rocks, Miles." Then her mood turned somber again. "But in there, I was just thinking--" She stopped abruptly, and Miley could feel her hesitation to voice what she was afraid of, as if not saying it would spare Miley what Lilly was feeling at that moment.

"Lilly?" Miley asked. "You know that whether you tell me or not, I can feel how upset what you're thinking has you. So go ahead and tell me, sweetheart. Tell me so you can let it go and we can talk it over and get past it, okay?"

Now when Lilly looked back up, her eyes were reddened from tears. "I was thinking that a long time from now, like, fifty or sixty or seventy years, after we've had our children and we have tons of grandkids..." She swallowed, and the anticipation was driving Miley mad. "I was thinking that eventually one of us is going to die, Miley."

"Yeah," Miley said carefully. "That's part of life, Lilly, but--"

Lilly abruptly cut Miley off with a torrent of words. "But Miley, if I die first, I'm afraid that those feelings, this connection between us, that losing that could kill you! And that means _I'LL_ kill you when I die, and I couldn't handle that, knowing I had hurt you that badly! And if you die first, then I'll--"

Now it was Miley's turn to interrupt, and her gentle voice was nevertheless firm. "We've already talked about this, Lilly. I know you're not gonna leave me if you die first, just like I won't leave you. I'd just wait around until it was time for you to join me. And I'd expect you to be there for our family."

"But Miley! If our kids are all grown up, and we've gotten to spoil our grandchildren and be there for them, then it _would_ be time to go." Lilly looked down again. "Is it wrong if I wanted to be with you if you died first?"

Miley could feel how confused Lilly was about this and wondered when she had begun thinking about this. "Lilly..." She paused then said, "No, it's not wrong if you wanted to die to join me if I died first, 'cause I'd feel the same way if it happens the other way around. But it's not up to us to decide when our life is over. If you or I were to do something like that, it'd just hurt our family that we left behind, and neither of us could handle that."

"You're right," Lilly said as she sniffled a bit more and leaned into Miley. "But I don't think I'd last too long without you."

"I feel the same way, hon. And I bet that whichever one of us goes first that the other'll probably be catchin' up pretty soon." She kissed the top of Lilly's head. "And I know that if I go first, I'll be right there with you all the way, Lilly. And then when we can hold each other again, that'll be worth the time apart."

Lilly nodded. "Yeah, it sure will." She rubbed her eyes. "I'm really sorry, Miley."

"Why?" Miley asked honestly.

"Because I got to thinking thoughts like that when I should be enjoying being with you."

"You always do enjoy being with me, Lilly, just like I do you. But it's natural to try to plan ahead."

"It was just... You know, in there, surrounded by all that history, I was thinking to the future, at how we're gonna be remembered, and then I started thinking about how we share feelings..."

"And you thought about how much it would hurt when one of us died," Miley concluded. Now it really did make sense, how upset Lilly had become.

Lilly nodded. "That would tear my heart out, Miley, to know that I couldn't wake up with you holding me anymore." But then Lilly brightened up. "But what you're saying is that even if your body wouldn't be there beside me, you'd still be there with me."

"Yeah," Miley said, glancing down briefly. "I would. I'd be in the bed with you, holding you like always, Lilly. You just couldn't feel it."

"Maybe..." Lilly said as she looked deeply into Miley's eyes. "Maybe I still could."

"Let's not plan on trying it out any time soon, 'kay?" Miley smiled as Lilly laughed at her joke, happy she could steer Lilly off that darker train of thought. Every now and then one of them would get stuck thinking along somber subjects such as death and being apart, and that was when the other would cheer her back up.

"Deal," Lily said after she stopped laughing. "Thanks for getting my mind back on happier things, Miley."

"You're welcome, Lil." Miley hugged her best friend tightly, not letting her go until Oliver and Ashley tapped her on the shoulder and told them that it was time to get back on the bus.

When they returned to the hotel, the students were told that the evening was theirs to enjoy as long as no one left the hotel or the shops immediately adjoining the hotel. The students quickly broke up into smaller groups, with several returning to the floor where the rooms were, others going shopping and quite a few finding something to eat in one of the many restaurants available to them. Miley and Lilly took Sarah and joined up with Oliver and Ashley to explore the Shops of Crystal City. While there was a Metro station underneath the hotel, the students were prohibited from going that far. Still, there were dozens of shops and almost as many restaurants to choose from even with their limited range. Tonight the five of them agreed on Subway, which offered something for each of them. After dinner, they had just begun to look at shops when Lilly pulled Miley to the side.

"I want to go swimming, Miley," Lilly said as she lovingly held Miley's hips while they leaned against the wall which was firmly against Lilly's back. "It's supposed to be clear tonight, and the pool's heated."

Miley thought for a bit, but all she could visualize was Lilly in her new--

"I'll wear that brand new red bikini," Lilly said, sealing the deal.

"Deal," Miley said, trying to hide her smirk. She stepped back, tugging Lilly upright and along behind her as she ran back to the hotel.

"Miley! You don't have to rip my arm out of its socket!"

Fifteen minutes later the two of them were on the elevator down to the pool. Sarah was changing upstairs; she had chosen to accompany them to the pool while Oliver and Ashley shopped a bit longer. Ashley had seen a store selling sculptures and crystal objects that she had to examine in more depth, much to Oliver's regret. Miley and Lilly each had on oversized t-shirts that came down to their knees and flip-flops in accordance with the hotel's policy regarding guests and swimsuits. As they stepped off the elevator they spotted signs leading to the pool, following them to their destination. As they entered the pool area, they were struck by the loudness present, as the Plexiglas walls retained most of the noise created by the other students already present.

"Pretty loud," Lilly practically shouted at Miley as they looked for an empty, secure spot to drop their bag and towels that Miley had picked up as they entered the pool area.

"Yeah, but look there," Miley said, pointing to the wall.

As Lilly looked, she saw that there was an underwater opening connecting the indoor pool to the outdoor pool. "You wanting to go outside and swim?" she asked.

"I was thinkin' about it," Miley replied, a grin on her lips. "As long as the pool's heated, it shouldn't be too cold out there. At least for a bit."

Lilly smiled. "Sounds good to me, girlfriend." She started to take off her shirt when Miley stopped her.

"Wait a sec." Miley kicked off her flip-flops and took off her own shirt, smiling as she saw Lilly's face brighten. She didn't see the other students who were taking a good look at Miley's beauty and her long, lean figure.

"You're so beautiful, Miley," Lilly said earnestly as she took Miley's hands. "Can I take off my shirt now?"

Miley turned so that the light was ideal was watching her wife, then she said, "Okay." As Lilly slowly lifted the shirt off, stretching to show off her abdominal muscles and strong shoulders, she also stood on her tiptoes to accentuate her thighs and calves. As she tossed her shirt into their bag, she turned so Miley could see her perfectly.

"Wow," Miley said simply as a round of cheers, whistles and claps went up around the pool. Miley snickered as Lilly blushed from all the attention. She knew her wife was about to do something very unladylike to make up for all that attention.

Lilly spun around, spotting a large group of boys and a few girls in the deeper end of the pool. She got a running start and jumped right next to them, turning in midair to execute a perfect can opener and send a geyser of water slamming into them.

"That's my woman," Miley said to herself, pride in her voice as she hopped over to the pool and jumped in a bit more sedately.

No sooner had she gotten her head back above the surface than Lilly had swam over to her. "Did you see me _soak_ them?" she said gleefully as the two of them treaded water.

"Yep," Miley said. "You got 'em good."

"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" Lilly swam to the wall, diving underwater and going through the partition to the outdoor pool.

Miley followed suit, breaking the surface of the water to a night that was warmer than she had been expecting. "Not too cold out here," she said as she reached Lilly, leaning against a corner of the pool in the shallow end.

"Are you kidding me?" Lilly said, only her head above the surface of the water. "It's freezing out here!"

Miley stood, feeling a chill in the air she hadn't appreciated. "Well, maybe it _is_ cooler than I had thought." She sunk back down until just her head was above the water as well, drifting closer to Lilly until their bodies were nearly touching. "Want me to warm you up?"

Lilly swallowed. "Not nice to tease me like that, Miles," she said as her mouth became dry.

"Don't think of it as teasing, think of it as... consideration for future services."

"Future services, huh?" Lilly said with a playful smile.

"Uh hmm," Miley mumbled as she leaned her head forward until their lips were nearly touching. Abruptly she felt herself propelled backward as Lilly pushed off the wall and sent them both toward the inside pool.

"No time like the present," Lilly said with a grin. However, before they could dive to go back through the tunnel, they bumped into someone else.

Bubbles preceded the head of Cassie Hughes as she finally broke the water's surface, her short red hair stuck to her head. The look of her fiery hair made the green in her eyes sparkle as they reflected the light filling the pool. "I was just on my way out here to tell you two that we're making everyone stay inside. Too many chances to fool around out here in the dark."

Miley turned to look at the teacher as Lilly lightly held onto her shoulders, floating rather than pulling her girlfriend down. "Well, we're not comfortable fooling around where people can see us, anyway. We were actually heading back up to the room."

Cassie smiled. "Okay," she said. "Oh, and I think Sarah's talking with some other friends over there in the hot tub."

"Okay," Lilly said happily. "I think we're gonna hop in the shower and rinse off, then probably watch some TV and cuddle up for the evening."

"Remember to keep the door open," Cassie said seriously. "No closed doors until lights out."

"We remember, Ms. Hughes," Miley said. "What time is it now?"

"Close to nine. Pool closes in a few minutes, lights out at ten." She turned and dove underwater, swimming easily through the underwater passage ahead of the two young women.

Twenty minutes later Miley and Lilly had showered off, gotten on their pajamas and settled underneath the covers as they watched television with Gina and Jamie on the bed next to them. The two couples were snuggling on separate beds, Miley and Lilly under the covers and Gina and Jamie simply stretched out atop the bed as they flipped through the channels.

"I swear, G, you're as bad as a boy when you get that remote. Going from channel to channel as fast as you can," Jaime said.

"It's my ADHD," Gina countered, not looking at her girlfriend who was brushing her long jet black hair.

Jaime smacked her girlfriend on the back of the head with a pillow. "You do _not_ have ADHD. That's just an excuse. Your mom herself told me you've never been tested or anything."

Gina rolled over to look up at her girlfriend. "It sounds good, though, doesn't it?"

"Oh look!" Jaime said loudly, pointing at the television. "It's Lindsey Lohan and her wife Samantha! Oooh, and you can see Lindsey's belly!" she added with a squeal at the end.

"Aww, Lindsey looks so cute pregnant!" Miley said dotingly.

"Yeah," Lilly added, "that glow she has is just adorable. What's this from, anyway?"

"One of those film festivals," Jaime said. "Being nominated for that Academy Award last year really put new life in her career."

Miley looked at the television screen as she said, "Amazing what staying off drugs and alcohol can do for you."

Lilly nudged her wife. "Amazing what being with someone you _love_ can do for you," she added, a knowing gleam in her eye.

"Amen to that, girlfriend," Miley said, a smile on her face.

Sarah came around the corner, halting suddenly when she saw that both beds were occupied. "Sorry, didn't realize..."

"It's okay, Sarah," Lilly said. "Plenty of room for you." She patted the half of the bed that didn't have Miley and Lilly occupying it. As Sarah hesitated, Lilly looked closer. "Gina, Jamie, maybe we should call it a night. Lights out will be any minute."

"Oh yeah!" Jamie said as she scrambled to her feet, playfully pushing Gina back down on the bed as she did so. "Night!" she said hurriedly as she ran out of the room, Gina's legs pumping as she took off after her girlfriend.

Miley gave Lilly a quizzical look as their friends departed, but she didn't say anything aloud. Lilly wouldn't have run them off without good reason. At least a reason that made sense to Lilly. Lilly logic sometimes didn't translate well to others.

"Okay Sarah," Lilly said after a few seconds had passed. "You've been crying. What's up?"

Miley now looked closer, and even though Sarah turned her back to the two of them as she crossed the hotel room Miley could see the redness on her cheeks and a blotchiness on her neck. She _had_ been crying.

"It's nothing much," Sarah said over her shoulder, but she sounded far from convincing.

"It's something that matters to you," Miley said, pausing before she added, "And we're your friends. We're not going to hurt you."

"That's what everybody says," Sarah said as she still refused to turn around, and the bitterness in her voice was very unlike the Sarah Miley and Lilly had known for years. After a long pause, she said, "Dani's been dodging me all night. I tried to get her alone to talk and see why she's been avoiding me, but she won't leave her volleyball friends. It's like she doesn't wa--" Another pause, then, "No, it's like she's _ashamed_ of me."

"When's the last time you two talked?" Miley asked gently.

"Over a week ago," Sarah said, finally turning around as she fell onto her bed face-first. "And that was just on the phone."

No one said a word for long moments, then Lilly voiced what everyone was thinking. "You think she's having second thoughts about going with you?"

Sarah nodded. "Yeah. I do."

"There's only one way to know, and that's to ask," Miley said as she sat up. "But not tonight. You need to get some sleep, and anyway--" She was interrupted by Cassie Hughes walking into the room.

"Lights out, girls," Cassie said. "I'm changing and then getting everyone in our block in bed, then I'll be back."

"I get the bathroom first!" Lilly yelled, racing past her teacher and slamming the bathroom door behind her.

Cassie spun and stared at the closed door. "Dammit, I really needed.." The door opened and a bathrobe came flying out, landing neatly at her feet. "That'll do," she said with a smile as she picked up the white robe and put it on over her swimsuit. "Be back in a few," she said as she stepped back out into the hall.

In moments Lilly came back into the room, looking very relieved. As Sarah stood and walked to the bathroom, Lilly caught her and gently held her by the shoulders until Sarah met her gaze. "Sarah, don't be ashamed of who you are. The only power other people have over you is the power _you_ give them."

Sarah was speechless for long seconds. Slowly a faint smile crept across her face. "Thanks, Lilly. And thank you, Miley," she added as she turned to look at Miley. "Good night."

"Good night," Miley said as Lilly released Sarah and crawled atop the bed, not stopping until she had grabbed her pillow and sprawled out across the bed. As Lilly made herself comfortable, Miley—who had wisely already used the bathroom earlier—reached over and gripped the sheet her wife was lying on. With a firm pull she slid Lilly closer to her, close enough to drape her left arm across her best friend and snuggle up behind her.

"Mmm, night Miles," Lilly said sleepily. "Love you."

Miley smiled as she closed her eyes as well. Sarah would turn off the light when she got out of the bathroom, or Cassie would when she returned. And if no one turned off the light, well, then it was going to stay on all night, because Miley Truscott was holding her one true love, and nothing was going to make her let go until the morning.

**Author's Afterword:** Another chapter that went on longer than I was expecting. Should I try harder to shorten the chapters so I can put new chapters up sooner? I know waiting nearly two weeks between chapters must be aggravating, and I'm sorry. Let me know if you have a preference for longer chapters and longer intervals versus shorter chapters and shorter intervals. The rest of our Washington arc continues next chapter, as the story once again is taking its own direction without much regard for what I had been planning. And what exactly _is_ going on with Dani and Sarah, and how does Janelle play into it? Because she does, trust me. See you soon!

-- Jo --


	11. Chapter 11: Nowhere To Run

**Author's Note:** So glad you're back! I want to thank all my readers again for tuning in to the latest chapter of our girls' story, with special notice to **IkarusCazadores**, **DaburatheDemonKing**, **Truscott**, **LunaLovesMeGood**, **hpfreak2008**, **Gentry**, **Heir of Zammitelu**, **MiddiVampira**, **Hula Hoop Queen**, **DataAndrd**, **LaughLoveLive** and **xTexasgalx **for their very nice, detailed reviews. Extra credit goes to **xTexasgalx** for noticing and grasping perfectly something that I have always taken very seriously in my stories: how I switch between referring to Miley and Lilly as wives, lovers, best friends or girlfriends. I do that to cement the fact that they are all of these and more to each other. From moment to moment one of those descriptors might be more appropriate than the others, but their relationship encompasses all of those qualities. I can only hope that someday I could experience a relationship like that for myself, and I hope that all of you are lucky enough to find that special person for you in your lives. I also had a request from **Spandex Monkey Man** to try to include a Cast of Characters to help everyone catch up with the newer characters introduced in this story, so I'll happily do so here. Please note that on the official show Sarah's last name has never been revealed, so I've given her one that immediately sprang to mind.

**Miley **and** Lilly Truscott** – our female heroines. I expect you already are familiar with them. )

**Oliver Oken** – other best friend to Miley and Lilly. Male. Dating Ashley DeWitt.

**Ashley DeWitt** – female friend to Miley and Lilly and Oliver's girlfriend.

**Sarah Sweet** – female classmate and current roommate of Miley and Lilly. Secretly dated Danielle Kent but now heartbroken by Dani for reasons still unrevealed.

**Jamie Escante** and **Gina Giles** – female soccer teammates of Lilly's, friends to her and Miley. Openly dating each other.

**Danielle Kent** – female volleyball player and classmate of all the above. Secretly dated Sarah Sweet for a brief time, but now openly hostile to Sarah.

**Janelle Gertz** – current reigning "bad girl" at Seaview High. Pretty much hates everyone but reserves special hostility for Sarah, Miley, Lilly and Dani in particular.

**Mr. Corelli** – male teacher at Seaview, director of Seaview's Senior Trip.

**Cassie Hughes** – female teacher at Seaview and roommate of Miley, Lilly and Sarah on the Senior Trip.

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 11: Nowhere to Turn

_I don't want to be tough_

_I don't want to be proud_

_I don't need to be fixed and_

_I certainly don't need to be found_

_I'm not lost_

_I need to be loved_

_I just need to be loved_

--Kelly Clarkson; "Maybe"

"_Two minutes, Ms. Winfrey," a voice called from behind Miley. She slowly looked around, her nerves initially intensifying when she saw Oprah Winfrey sitting in a chair across from her but then calming as she felt a familiar hand rest itself on her right thigh, its warmth and comfort readily felt through the soft denim of her jeans._

"_Something wrong, Hannah?" Lilly said as she gently caressed Miley's thigh._

_Miley turned and smiled as she saw Lilly in her bright blue Lola wig, her face sparkling with a light dusting of glitter, matched by the dangling cobalt earrings she was wearing. "Just day_dream_ing," she said, emphasizing the middle syllable quite deliberately._

"_Oh," Lilly said, no change in her facial expression save for the flicker of a smile. She leaned over and whispered in Miley's ear, "We're back on Oprah today to catch up with her. We just celebrated our third wedding anniversary yesterday, and we're also talking about the HLM Foundation's charity work in providing vaccinations and medicine to children and families who can't afford them." There was a pause, then Miley could feel Lilly's warm breath on her ear as her best friend whispered, "Plus you made love to me like a wildcat last night, maybe the best we've ever had." She punctuated her statement with a light lick of Miley's earlobe, sending a surge of excitement tingling down Miley's neck and side._

_Miley quickly turned to look at Lilly, who had a saucy grin on her face. "It gets better?" she said softly, not quite believing that their sex life _could_ get any better. Lilly's knowing nod set Miley's heart racing, as she could see the familiar desire deep in her wife's eyes and she knew with total certainty that Lilly was telling the truth. "Sweet niblets," she squeaked out as Lilly leaned forward. Their lips met and Miley felt her own arms wrap around Lilly as her wife's arms mirrored her actions, encircling Miley's chest with their deceptive strength as they lost themselves momentarily in each other, not caring how many sets of eyes or cameras were on them at that particular moment._

Lilly's cell phone alarm brought the two of them back to the present day as it signaled another morning for them to experience together. The girls silently crept to the bathroom, where they made love in the shower for the second morning in a row. This morning the contact between the two young women was softer, quieter, but no less intense. After they had reconnected to each other intimately, they spent long minutes in the shower, laughing and chatting as they washed each other's body and hair. The last few minutes they switched the shower to a bath and spent that time holding each other as they reclined in the hot bath. "Our own personal hot tub," Lilly said, getting a laugh out of Miley. "But I think my skin's wrinkling."

Miley nodded, then she and Lilly stood together. They quickly dried off and got their underwear on, then they opened the door and began working on their hair. By the time they were finished, Sarah was up and standing at the bathroom door. "Mornin' Sarah!" Miley said cheerily.

"Yeah, it is," Sarah said, her voice glum.

"What's wrong?" asked Lilly.

"Nightmares. All night." Sarah yawned, indicating just how little sleep she had gotten. "You two about done? I need to use the potty."

"Sure," Lilly said, grabbing a hairbrush. "I can finish doing Miley's hair out here." She took Miley's hand and led her best friend out of the bathroom, closing the door behind them.

"Wow," Miley said as she sat down on the bed, Lilly kneeling on the bed behind her. "Sarah really looks terrible."

"I agree," said Cassie as she turned over and then sat up in the bed, revealing a white baby doll shirt with a logo proclaiming **HACK/SLASH** on it. "She tossed and turned all night. Didn't let me get much sleep either." Cassie looked squarely at Miley and Lilly as she yawned. "When are you two going to fill me in on what's going on?" she said as she finished her yawn.

"Like what?" Miley said, smiling in an attempt to forestall the inevitable.

"Like why one of the happiest, most optimistic girls in all of Seaview High School looks like somebody just ran over her dog _and_ kicked her cat," Cassie said. "I'm serious, girls. Sarah is really upset about something, and I know you two know at least part of what's going on."

"It's not our place to tell you, Ms. Hughes," Miley said in a subdued voice. "It's..."

"It'd be revealing something that affects not just Sarah," Lilly interjected. "Plus I really don't think Sarah would want us talking to anyone about it." After a pause, she said, "But if she felt like talking to someone, I think it might be you, Ms. Hughes. Just give her a little bit longer."

"Girls, Sarah is _hurting_ about something, and the longer it goes on the worse it's going to get!" Cassie stood, revealing a pastel pink pair of boy shorts. "Is it an eating disorder?" she said, folding her arms across her chest.

"No," Miley said as she and Lilly both shook their heads. "We _can_ tell you that."

"I'm in love with someone who doesn't care if I'm alive," Sarah said, startling everyone as she walked back into the main room. "Or at least I've got... _feelings_... for her. And I thought she had feelings for me too, but now she won't even talk to me." Sarah turned her back on everyone as she opened a drawer and began going through her clothes.

"Have you tried to talk to her about it?" Cassie asked.

A bitter laugh was Sarah's only reply as she rummaged through the drawers.

"Okay, I guess you have. Had you two gotten very close?" Cassie looked over at Miley and Lilly. Miley remained still, but Lilly's shrug revealed that they didn't know much more about that aspect of Sarah.

"We kissed a few times, and we held each other a few times," Sarah replied as she found a tie-dye t-shirt and pulled it on. "And we talked about coming out to our parents, but then she just..." Tears began to form as Sarah looked down, wiping furiously at her eyes. "She just quit talking to me. And then when I tried to talk to her about it one day after classes let out, she slammed me into the lockers and just walked off."

"What?" Miley asked as she turned to look at Sarah. "You didn't tell us that!"

Sarah shook her head. "No," she said as the tears continued to fall. "I felt ashamed. I felt dirty, for having those feelings about her. Like I deserved to be treated that way."

"You _don't_!" Miley said, standing up suddenly. "Nobody deserves to be treated that way, especially by someone they care about."

"Miley, _she_ doesn't care about _me_, that's obvious," Sarah replied, gaining some control over her tears. "I just want to know what happened, because I think she used to... at the beginning."

Lilly sat down on the floor beside Sarah. "Well, I want to know what happened too, plus I want her to apologize to you for hurting you."

"Just let it go, Lilly, please," Sarah said pleadingly. "It's only going to stir up more trouble. Plus all her friends are on her side too. They all laugh at me when I walk by them."

"Do you think Dani told them?" Lilly asked, then she froze when she realized what she had let slip. "Oops. Sorry."

"Dani?" Cassie said, trying to recall whom she had seen with Sarah recently. "Dani Kent? You two were both witnesses to the whole... incident with Amber Addison trying to run over Miley and Lilly, right?" From the silence that filled the room, Cassie surmised she was correct. "Every time I've seen Dani lately she's been with her volleyball teammates."

"And Janelle Gertz," Miley added softly. "And Janelle is--"

"Friends with Amber!" Lilly said, finishing Miley's thought for her. "Somehow Janelle's involved in all this. Have you done anything to Janelle, Sarah?"

"No," Sarah said earnestly. "I have one class with her, and... Wait a minute. She wanted me to be her science fair partner, and I turned her down because I knew she'd make me do all the work."

"Plus you were a witness to Amber trying to kill Miley and me," Lilly added.

"But so was Dani," Sarah said. "So why is Janelle hanging out with her instead of being a bitch to her too?"

Everyone thought silently for a minute until Lilly stood and locked gazes with Miley. Smiles spread across their faces as they both said, "Oliver!"

"Yeah, Oliver'll know what's going on with them!" Lilly said, giving Miley a high five.

"We have to talk to him today," Miley said excitedly. "Sarah, we'll get to the bottom of this, but you have to stay away from Dani today."

"Why?" Sarah asked, looking up at them.

"Because you're hurting right now," Miley said gently, "and people who are hurting tend to do things without really thinking them through." She extended a hand to Sarah and helped her up. "Steer clear of her today."

"I just really need to see if she still has any--"

"No!" Miley said, poking Sarah in her shoulder. "You don't. Not right now. She's got you all twisted up to where you can't even think straight."

"Give us some time to find out what's really going on, Sarah," Lilly said.

Sarah considered, then she said, "I'm going to go get some breakfast." She stepped into a pair of cargo pants and then grabbed her sandals and hurried out the door.

"Let's go see if Oliver's up yet," Miley said.

"Right behind you, girlfriend," Lilly said as they ran out the door, still barefoot.

After a quick but quiet talk with Oliver and his promise to do some investigating, Miley and Lilly finished getting dressed and went downstairs to get some breakfast before the students assembled at the Metro station. Today was going to be a very busy and interesting day. Following a trip along the Metro to the Smithsonian station, the students were being released on their own recognizance to explore what they were most interested in.

As the students rode the escalators up and out of the Metro station, they began to break up and move in different directions depending on their chosen destinations. In one direction the many buildings that made up the Smithsonian museum and the Capitol Building far in the distance stretched before them; in another direction, the Washington Monument climbed steep into the blue sky. Beyond its imposing form lay the Reflecting Pool, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Wall, the newer World War Two Memorial and several other sites. It was entirely too much to see in one day, but several of the students were going to try.

After being dismissed from the Metro Station, Miley and Lilly set their sights on the Washington Monument. It was easily the most striking sight visible from their current location along the green, grassy National Mall that led to it, and they found themselves somewhat awed by its imposing size. Even at this distance, over a quarter of a mile away, the Washington Monument dominated the Mall, if not the entire city as far as Miley and Lilly were concerned at that particular moment.

"Holy cow, that's tall," Lilly said with a subdued voice as the two of them stared at the white obelisk.

"Uh huh," Miley echoed, her voice similarly faint. After a minute, Miley said, "We should get started, hon. Lots to see today." She turned to look at her wife, who chose that moment to look at her as well. "You ready?"

Lilly nodded. "Walking shoes are on, camera ready, cell phone charged. You?"

"Got my shoes, got my phone, got my best girl," Miley replied with a smile.

"Awww," Lilly said before she gave Miley a hug and a quick kiss. "You're so sweet, Miley. Now let's get started."

"Just don't walk my legs off, Lilly!" Miley said as they set off at a steady pace toward the Washington Monument.

By three o'clock the two young women had managed to see the Washington Monument, the World War Two Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial and the Vietnam Women's Memorial. They weren't able to take the tour to the top of the Washington Monument, but they had already decided to pass on that part anyway. They had bought lunch at one of the small carts along the Mall, with Lilly's appetite in rare form. As they finished up their lunch, Miley began gathering the trash from Lilly's assault on the food cart.

"We probably should start walking back," Miley said. "It'll take us at least thirty minutes to make it back to the Metro station, maybe an hour." The students were supposed to reassemble on the Mall next to the Metro station there at five o'clock, and Miley didn't want to be running late. As she and Lilly threw away their trash and began the walk back, her cell phone rang. "Hello?" she said as she answered it. Her other hand drifted down to her side, instinctively seeking out Lilly's hand and holding it gently as they walked.

"_Hey darlin'!" _

"Hey Daddy!" Miley said excitedly. "Oh my gosh, today has been _so _cool! We got to see all these monuments, and they're HUGE! We kinda walked our legs off, but it's been _so_ worth it!"

"Hey Mr. Stewart!" Lilly called out as she leaned over closer to Miley's phone. "We love you!"

"_Tell my daughter-in-law that everyone here loves her too, bud, okay?"_

"We love all of ya'll too," Miley said. When there was a pause, Miley realized that this phone call had another purpose besides checking on them. "Is somethin' going on, Daddy?" she asked, her voice curious.

"_Well, there's been a little change in the interview tonight."_

"The phone interview with _Rolling Stone_?"

"_That's the one. Or at least, it was the one. Seems that they talked to the record company and asked if there was any way they could arrange for a sit-down interview instead of a telephone one."_

Lilly looked over at Miley. "Uh oh," she said quietly. She peered at Miley's face, which had become worried; Lilly's stomach had also begun to ache, mirroring Miley's concern. "What's going on, Miles? Is everyone okay?"

Before Lilly got too panicked, Miley looked at her and said, "Everyone's okay, Lil. Just that _Rolling Stone_ wants to do a face-to-face interview with us."

Lilly shrugged her shoulders. "Okay. So we do the interview in three days when we get back. What's the problem?"

Miley stopped walking as she turned to Lilly. "Lilly! They're gonna do the interview with us tonight. _HERE_."

"What?!" Lilly said loudly as she also stopped and spun to face Miley. "But we don't--" Miley's hand over her mouth made Lilly lower her voice, then she dislodged Miley's fingers from her face. "But we don't have any of our stuff here! How can we possibly do--"

Miley thrust the phone toward Lilly, breaking her train of thought. Not missing a beat, Lilly said into the phone, "How can we possibly do an interview? We don't have any of our..." She waited, obviously listening to her father-in-law. "Oh," she said after several seconds. "Wow. How'd you manage that?" Another pause, then, "Okay, so what are you sending us?" Her face grimaced, then she said, "Did you pick out the clothes? Oh, Roxy helped? Well, that should be okay." She looked at Miley, then said with a smile, "Your dad's good, Miley." Suddenly her face lit up. "Well, heck, tell 'em Morton's Steakhouse! The one in Crystal City, at eight o'clock. Thanks, Dad 2!" She handed the phone back to Miley.

"Hello?" Miley said into the phone, still confused, but the phone was silent. She closed the phone and turned to look at Lilly.

"He said to tell you that he loved us and that he knew we'd do great." Lilly put her left arm around Miley and got them moving in the direction of the Smithsonian again. "He found out late yesterday about the interview, so he got Roxy to come over and help him get clothes for us. She picked out a bunch of different outfits for us and he overnighted them to us at the hotel in another suitcase. It should be there waiting for us by six o'clock here time."

"Here time?" Miley said, grinning at Lilly's choice of words.

Lilly gave Miley an exasperated look that neither of them believed was real for a second, then she smiled herself. "Hey, you understood what I meant, didn't you?"

"Yep," Miley said with a matching smile. As they started to walk again, however, Miley's expression turned more serious. "So all we have to do is pick up the clothes, decide what we want to wear, sneak off with our outfits, change somewhere between the hotel and this restaurant down in Crystal City where who knows how many of our classmates will be walkin' around, carry off a surprise interview, then change back to ourselves and get back up to the room before lights out." She looked at Lilly, skepticism evident on her face.

"It's not a _surprise_ interview," Lilly said with a straight face, holding it for a few seconds before she smiled. "Oh, come on, Miles! We've done more with less! Remember you accepting that award while we were handcuffed together? That was a lot harder than this is gonna be!"

Despite herself, Miley began to smile as Lilly's enthusiasm began to take effect. "It might be fun," she admitted, getting a squeal from Lilly, who began jumping up and down from excitement. "But we have to be super careful!" she quickly added.

"Miley," Lilly said with a pause as she stopped jumping. "We can do this. And we can do it well. All we need is a bit of planning ahead, and we've got time for that."

When the two of them met up with Oliver and Ashley back at the Metro station, they were busy working on a plan to slip off for an hour or two for the interview. However, they couldn't reveal all the details to Oliver in this setting, as there was simply too great a chance that Ashley or someone else would learn their big secret. Oliver had tried to gather more information regarding Sarah and Dani, but all his contacts had simply been too spread out today. He promised he'd learn more tonight, once everyone was back at the hotel and free to relax.

After a fast trip back to the hotel, Miley and Lilly waited until the students had been dismissed for the rest of the evening before they made their way back downstairs to retrieve the package Robbie Ray had shipped to them. They were surprised to see that it had been sent in a large suitcase, locked securely to preclude prying eyes from peeking at its contents. Lilly pulled the suitcase behind them as they hurried back up to their room, where they tugged it into the bathroom and closed the door.

"So what's the combination?" Miley asked as Lilly looked at the Wordlock securing the suitcase's contents. The Wordlock was a twist on the standard combination lock in that it used a series of five letters as its combination, making it significantly easier to remember the combination.

Lilly thought for a moment, then she started twisting the letter dials. "Miley?" she said out loud before tugging on the lock, which didn't budge. "Nope. Maybe Lilly." She spun the dials again, and again the lock refused to open. "Well, there go the two most obvious choices."

"Try Lola," Miley said.

"Okay," Lilly said, but again the lock refused to yield. "Darn it! When did your dad get so sneaky?"

Miley sat down on the floor beside Lilly. "He's had to pick something that we'd figure out." She glanced over to see Lilly pull out her cell phone and dial a number.

Lilly listened for a minute, then an expression of frustration flashed across her face. "Mr. Stewart, when you get this message, we're trying to figure out the combination. Please call us as fast as you can!" She snapped the lavender phone closed then sighed loudly. "What the heck could it be, Miley?"

Miley leaned her head back against the wall and thought. "He's had to pick something that would stand for both of us," she said out loud. "That's why he wouldn't use either one of our names. It'd be leaving one of us out."

"Well, that's thoughtful of him," Lilly said sarcastically. As she saw Miley's look at her, she said, "Sorry, Miles. I see what you're saying, and it's sweet of him to be thinking that way, but right now we don't have a lot of time." She looked at her cell phone, whose display helpfully showed _7:40 PM_. "Truscott?" Lilly said excitedly, then she frowned. "It's only five letters," she realized aloud.

Miley looked at the dial, noting that the last dial had a blank space. "Or four," she softly said.

"What would your dad think of when he thinks of us, Miley?" Lilly said, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. As she did so, Miley pulled the suitcase closer to her. Lilly could hear her turning the lock's dial, and then she heard one of the best sounds she could hear at that time: the click of the lock opening. "You did it?" she said as her eyes shot open, not quite believing what she was now seeing. "You did it!"

Miley smiled as she handed the opened lock to Lilly for her to inspect it and began to softly sing, "L-O-V-E, Love, L-O-V-E, Love..." from her song "Bigger Than Us." Her smile broadened as she added, "That's how he thinks of us, Lilly. _LOVE_." She felt tears form in her eyes as she considered that revelation.

"Your dad is a big romantic, Miley," Lilly said as she leaned forward and kissed her wife tenderly. "And that is so cool that that's what he thinks of when he thinks of us."

"Yeah," Miley said, hugging her best friend tightly. "I couldn't think of a better way for anyone to think of us."

"Me neither, Miles." After holding each other for a few seconds, the girls sat back and opened the suitcase. On top was a large softsided bag, large enough to hold two outfits and two pairs of shoes. Both of them knew that Lilly would probably be the one carrying it, as having a purse fit Lola's image a bit more than it did Hannah's, so neither color nor design really mattered in regards to matching. Nevertheless it was a soft pink canvas, its straps and ties soft black rope, so it would go with most anything the girls put together.

The two of them packed the bag with their chosen outfits, then they closed and relocked the suitcase. Miley pulled it back into the room and put it beneath their other bags, being careful to rearrange things the way they were earlier. She stood back up to admire her own handiwork and said, "Perfect. They'll never notice it. Now all we need to do is to sneak out of the hotel and away from Ms. Hughes and we're all set."

"Miley?" Lilly said, her voice a bit uncertain.

"What?" Miley said as she turned around. As she completed her turn, she found herself just a few feet away from the green gaze of Cassie Hughes, and the expression on her face was not a happy one. "Uh oh," Miley said softly. She gave Cassie one of her dazzling smiles, but it was too late.

"Don't try that smile on me, Miley Truscott. It might work on your wife and your father, but I'm immune to it." Cassie folded her arms across her chest as she regarded Miley; as she did so, Lilly stepped around her and moved to stand beside her wife, taking her hand once she was there. "So what exactly are the two of you sneaking off to do?"

Lilly and Miley looked at each other. "We, uh, we really can't tell you, Ms. Hughes," Lilly said, "but it's nothing bad, we swear!"

"So it's not anything bad," Cassie said, glancing up at the ceiling in an overly obvious gesture of consideration, "but you can't tell me?" she finished as she again fixed them with a glare. "I might be a new teacher, ladies, but I'm not an idiot."

"But Ms. Hughes, we _really_ have to go do this!" Miley said emphatically. "I mean, it's, like, super important!"

Cassie stood her ground and held her gaze. "If it's that important, then you should be able to tell me."

"We can't," Miley said as she looked down at the ground.

"But maybe we can show you," Lilly said quietly, prompting Miley to jerk her head back up and look at her wife.

"Lilly Bear say what?!" Miley exclaimed, her mouth wide open.

"Miles, we _have_ to do this. It'll look really bad if we canceled or rescheduled, especially with that special issue coming out next week." Lilly looked at Cassie and hoped fervently that the young teacher was as trustworthy as they were hoping. "And I don't think Ms. Hughes will tell anyone once she sees how big a deal it really is." After a pause she turned to face Cassie and asked, "Will you let us go on the condition that you come with us? That way you can make sure that we're not doing anything bad."

Cassie considered that for a moment, then she said, "Fine. I'll need to tell Mr. Corelli that we'll be gone for..."

"Maybe an hour or two?" Lilly said, looking at Miley, who nodded in agreement.

"But you can't tell him where we're going or anything like that!" Miley added, her heart racing at what they were about to do. Bringing anyone else in on their secret raised the risks of someone letting slip who their alter egos were, and that was the last thing Miley wanted. But Lilly was right. It was already ten minutes until eight o'clock, and they'd be pressed for time as it was.

Seeing Miley's genuine concern, Cassie's steely exterior softened a bit. "I'll tell him it's a female thing," she said with a smile. "He'll be too embarrassed to press me for any details." Seeing the relief on Miley's and Lilly's faces, she sat down by the desk and called Mr. Corelli's cell phone, briefly telling him that she needed to take Miley and Lilly for an hour or two to take care of some female issues. As expected, he didn't ask for any further details, and within a minute Cassie was off the phone. "So, where are we going?"

Miley and Lilly grabbed Cassie by the hands and tugged her to her feet. "First, you need to put on a dark shirt," Miley said.

"Do you have a dress skirt or pants?" Lilly asked as they led her over to the closet.

"Well, yes, but--"

"Good!" Miley said, finding a crisp pair of dark gray slacks hanging in the closet. She took them off the hangar and thrust them at Cassie. "These are perfect!"

As Cassie dropped her shorts and began putting on the pants, a satin shirt lightly smacked her in the face. "Sorry!" Lilly said as Cassie looked up. She was holding two shirts for Cassie's consideration and had gotten one of them a bit too close to Cassie's face where she was bent over. "Didn't mean to smack you in the face with your shirt, Ms. Hughes."

Cassie stood up and took the satin peach blouse that Lilly had in her right hand. "Thank you," she said as she put on the blouse and buttoned it up. "Am I allowed to ask why I'm being dressed up?"

"So you look like a bodyguard," Miley said. "We'll change once we get down there."

Lilly hurried across the room and grabbed the pink canvas bag with their other clothes and wigs in it. "Okay, let's go!" she said as she scurried across the room and out the door, Miley and Cassie in tow behind her.

Cassie found herself intrigued as the three of them rode down the elevator and then hurried down the tunnel leading to the underground Crystal City. Wherever they were going, Miley and Lilly were in a big hurry. "So when are you two going to tell me what's going on?" she finally asked as they came to a halt halfway through the underground mall.

Miley and Lilly looked at each and smiled. It seemed that whatever they were nervous about earlier had passed. "Okay, Ms. Hughes, here's what we need you to do," Miley said. "Go down to Morton's Steakhouse and go inside. Just wait right inside the door until we get there. If anyone asks who you are or what you're doin', just say that you're waitin' on your client. Don't worry about sayin' anything else."

"We'll be right there, we just have to change too," Lilly added. "And we'll meet you inside the lobby of Morton's."

"Okay," Miley said, "we'll be there in just a minute." As they watched Cassie walk smartly down the mall in the direction of Morton's, Miley and Lilly let her get far ahead of them, then they began walking in that same direction. When they turned into the section of hallway that led to Morton's, Miley and Lilly hurried into the public bathroom near the restaurant. They took the far stall and closed and locked the door. Within minutes they had changed into their alter egos. As Lilly slung the pink canvas bag holding their regular clothes and shoes over her shoulder, they put on each other's lip gloss, a soft pink with scattered sparkles.

"You ready?" Lilly asked. She had put on a blue sequined miniskirt dress with white stockings spotted with pink polka dots, cobalt blue flats, and her bright pink wig.

Miley finished arranging her Hannah wig, letting Lilly check it carefully for any hairs that might be trying to escape. She had opted for a white t-shirt covered with a red tank top that hung just below her studded belt, overlapping with her black leather pants. For her shoes she had slipped on a pair of Lola's signature Sketchers sneakers, this pair sporting a dizzying spiral design of pink, lavender, baby blue and white. As Lilly smiled and took her hands away from Miley's wig, Miley said, "Ready. Let's go."

They opened the stall door, pleased to find that the bathroom was still empty. They walked briskly out of the bathroom, hurrying down the hallway the short distance to the restaurant. They didn't bother to look behind them to see if anyone had noticed the sudden appearance of two celebrities; they hoped no one had yet.

Cassie found herself growing increasingly uncomfortable as she stood in the lobby, enduring the curious looks from the staff of Morton's. However, she made a point to not show her discomfort to any of them. After just a few minutes, she noticed the staff in the lobby buzzing into an excited state, then she turned to see the cause of their excitement: the sudden appearance of Hannah and Lola Montana! Cassie found herself reaching into her pocket for her cell phone to take a picture, then she realized that wouldn't look very professional. Before she could chide herself, however, the two celebrities stepped up to the hostess counter and began talking to the hostess. Cassie sighed and turned to look back at the door, wondering where Miley and Lilly were when she felt a tug on her purse. She turned to look directly into the bright blue eyes of Hannah Montana, who smiled curiously at her.

"Sorry it took us so long," Hannah said. "Thanks for coming ahead and making sure everything was okay."

Cassie's brain was spinning, and it seemed like it couldn't find any traction. _Does she have me confused with someone else? Was she really talking to me? No, no way._ But then Hannah's wife Lola walked over to stand beside the music superstar. When she reached her wife, Lola took Hannah's hand, prompting Hannah to look at her wife and share a smile and laugh with the pink-haired actress. Now Cassie's mind was truly reeling, because she had seen that very gesture, that smile and shared laugh several times over the last two days. _No. Fucking. Way._ As Hannah very gently took Cassie's arm, she forced herself to breathe as the magnitude of the secret Miley and Lilly had just entrusted to her became apparent.

"Are you ready?" Hannah—no, _Miley_—said to her. Cassie just nodded in reply, unable to find her voice at the moment.

"Are you okay?" Lola—no, Lilly, asked softly.

"Yes," Cassie managed to whisper, getting a smile in return from both Lilly and Miley.

"Good," Lilly said, concern still evident on her face. She turned back to the hostess, who was patiently waiting on them and trying her best to conceal the shaking of her right leg. Morton's might serve senators and judges on a daily basis, but this was the first time they had served Hannah and Lola Montana. "Okay, I think we're ready to be seated," she said to the hostess, who appeared to be in her early twenties.

As they walked to their table in the dimly lit restaurant, Miley whispered to Cassie, "Just sit there and stare at the reporter every now and then." When Cassie gave her a look of disbelief, Miley just smiled and said, "Trust me, it'll work. That'll make sure he or she doesn't pay too much attention to you, since you're not really in a disguise."

As they reached the table, they saw that a younger man, maybe in his early to mid-twenties, was waiting on them already. A digital recorder was neatly placed on the table, ready to record the interview. As they reached the table, he looked up and saw them. He jumped to his feet, bumping the table and nearly toppling over his drink. A small amount sloshed out onto the pristine white linen tablecloth, but that was the extent of the spill.

"Mrs. Montana and Mrs. Montana, thank you two so much for agreeing to do this interview on such short notice. I know this isn't why you were here, and I apologize for any inconvenience." He extended his hand to Miley, who shook it firmly as he said, "Andy Harrison. And, uh, I suppose you already know I work for _Rolling Stone_, right?"

Miley flashed one of her dazzling Hannah smiles as she said, "Right!" She stepped to the side to let Lilly step up to likewise shake his hand. "And this is the love of my life, Lola," Miley said as Lilly shook his hand.

"Hey, you take us to dinner here, we give you a sit-down interview..." Lilly said, striking a pose of deep thought, "Sounds like a fair trade to me!" She heard Miley laugh beside her as they sat down in the booth almost completely surrounding the round table. Lilly noted Cassie stepped in front of the reporter as he started to sit down, sliding into the booth ahead of him to place herself between him and Miley. _Bonus points for Ms. Hughes; she's acting the part really well._

As they ordered drinks—water for Miley and Lilly, unsweetened tea for Cassie—they looked over the menus. Miley could tell that Lilly was practically drooling over the choices on the menu, which made the smile on her face even more broad. She leaned toward the reporter and said, "Okay, let's get something straight right off."

He steeled himself, waiting for the superstar to tell him what subjects were off limits. _It'll probably be their sex life. Celebs always want to skip the really hot stuff._ However, he was completely surprised by what she said next.

"If _Rolling Stone_ is paying for the meal, then we're leaving the tip."

He blinked a minute. "Excuse me?" he asked.

Miley looked squarely at him. "I said, if you're buying the dinner, then we're leaving the tip. That's the polite thing to do."

"I wouldn't argue with her on that," Lilly said, taking a drink of her water. "It's the least we can do."

"Um, okay," Andy said. _Wow, not what I was expecting._

"Let me guess," Miley said, "you were expecting us to be some snotty stuck-up little brats, huh?" She smiled at his silence, taking that as confirmation. "It's okay, we've had people make that assumption about us before. But we're really not like that. If you take away all the albums, all the TV shows, all the awards, all the publicity, all the fame... Well, then we're just two eighteen-year-old girls who love each other so much that we're going to spend the rest of our lives together." She felt Lilly slip her fingers under her left hand. She turned to Lilly and said, "Love you, hon."

"I love you too, Hannah," Lilly said, and that very love was evident on her face as she looked at her wife.

Andy cleared his throat, trying to not get turned on by the obvious heat between his two interviewees. "Well, Hannah, Lola—is it okay if I call you two that?" After they both nodded, he resumed. "It's that very obvious, very strong love between the two of you that's put you on the top of this year's Hot List. Obviously, you're also going to be our Hottest Real-life Couple in addition to being our cover girls. I mean, let's face it, the way you two show your love is inspiring. And it's not just your love for each other, but your love for others as well."

Lilly smiled. She liked the sound of this so far. But it sounded like he had rehearsed this a bit too much. "Excuse me," she said as she reached over and placed her hand over his small notebook he had taken out and set on the table. "I know you've got some questions you want to ask us, and that's cool. But why don't you go ahead and ask them first, then we can just talk. You're going to get a better idea of who we are by really talking to us, not just asking questions and writing down our answers. So turn on your little recorder thingie and ask away." She smiled but held her hand in place over his notebook until he smiled and nodded in agreement, then she removed her hand. "Now let's find us a waiter or waitress so we can order our food," she said eagerly.

"See why I love her so much?" Miley said proudly.

As the interview went on, Cassie found herself still in a state of disbelief. _How in the hell could Miley and Lilly Truscott be Hannah and Lola Montana? It's just impossible._ Yet the more she watched Hannah and Lola touch and look at each other, the more she saw the very same mannerisms she had seen over the past few days. The way Miley liked to rub Lilly's hand with her thumb when they held hands. The way Lilly unconsciously leaned into Miley when they were both listening to or watching the same thing. The quick little smiles and glances at each other when they spoke. All those little details were there before her very eyes. But there was definitely something different about Hannah and Lola than she normally saw from Miley and Lilly. Somehow they were able to take this star power, this aura they exuded as Hannah and Lola, and dampen it when they were just being themselves. As Cassie realized that, a truth central to the core of the two young women became evident to their teacher. _Being __themselves__. They're not Hannah and Lola, disguising themselves as two ordinary teenagers to avoid the crush of celebrity when they need a break. Hannah and Lola are the __disguises, and Miley and Lilly are truly who they are._ She gave the reporter a glare as she caught him looking at her. He quickly shifted his gaze, and Cassie nearly smiled at how effective that had turned out to be. She stole another glance at Miley and Lilly, now animatedly discussing both Hannah's music and how a percentage of its sales would go directly to the HLM Foundation's charities. _They could live like royalty and have the best private tutors imaginable, but they chose to go to a public school and live like any other teenagers._ She had already grown to think very highly of Miley and Lilly Truscott, but tonight she found her regard for the two of them double, if not triple. _Instead of just enjoying the money and fame, they use their celebrity and their wealth to help others who need it, supporting children's causes aggressively through their charity foundation They share a tremendous amount of their wealth with others less fortunate._ As Cassie thought along that path, she heard Miley say something that meshed perfectly with her current train of thought.

"Really, we could give every bit of this up, all the money and fame and awards, and we could walk away from it all as long as we had each other." As Miley said that, she turned to Lilly and looked deeply into her eyes. "And we'd be happy," she added with a soft smile for the woman she loved.

Lilly's eyes fluttered briefly as she smiled in return. "Completely happy," she replied, "as long as I have you." She kissed Miley briefly, their lips lingering only a second or two.

"So, Hannah, any thoughts on your new album?" Andy said, clearing his throat. "It's expected to reach U.S. sales of two million anytime now, with over a million songs already sold via downloads, so it's a hit by anyone's standards. What is it about this album in particular that really grabs you?"

Miley smiled even before he finished his last sentence. "What makes this album so special to me, without a doubt, is that the first single off this album is also the first song that Lola and I have written together," she said proudly.

"So, Lola," Andy said as he turned to look at her, "what was it like co-writing a song with one of the biggest music superstars ever?"

Lilly grinned as she remembered some of the difficulties they had encountered initially in working on the song together. Both of them tended to be rather stubborn, and there had been some arguments until they had come up with a rather unique method of focusing on the song's subject. "It was a lot harder than I had been thinking," she said honestly. "I mean, 'When I'm With You' is about the feelings we have for each other, so I just kind of assumed it was gonna be easy to write." She rolled her eyes and laughed once. "Boy, was I wrong. Trying to get the words to rhyme was the least of my worries. I never realized you had to come up with a rhyme pattern, then you had to work on phrasings to make sure the timing was right, then we went to work on the music, and then we had to go back and rewrite things to make it all fit together."

"There were a few arguments," Miley added with a knowing nod. "But we found a way to work things out whenever we started to get into an argument."

"Every couple is gonna argue," Lilly quickly said. "That's because no two people are going to agree on everything. But it's all in how you argue and how you resolve it that defines a relationship. We've fought over silly things before, but we always remember that we love each other. That keeps arguments from going too far. Sometimes one of us needs some time to cool off, and I think both of us always feel bad after we argue, but that's part of being married."

Miley squeezed Lilly's hand. "Yup, we work it out and go on. And that's what we did with our song. I couldn't be more proud of how well it turned out." She left out exactly how they had resolved disagreements over their song. When they had felt a fight brewing, they stopped what they were doing, went up to their room and made love. During those intimate moments, all the arguing faded away and was replaced with their deep, intense love for each other. Then, as they held each other afterward, they could set personal preferences aside and choose the correct words for their song.

"Do you think the two of you will be writing more songs together in the future?" Andy asked, snapping Miley out of her reminiscence.

"Oh yeah," she said quickly. Maybe a little too quickly, judging from how Lilly giggled.

"I'm looking forward to writing more songs with her, too, if she'll let me," Lilly added, leaning against her wife lovingly. "I really enjoyed our... brainstorming sessions."

"If no one minds changing subjects, Lola, do you have any plans to make the leap from television to the big screen?" he asked.

Lilly thought for a minute before she answered. "I'd obviously love to have the chance to do a movie, _if_ the timing and the subject were just right, but _Heroes_ has been very good to me, and I love being part of such a great show. Anything else I do is just going to have to fit in with it until NBC gets tired of me."

"How about your hair? I mean, you've singlehandedly popularized the current fashion wave of bright hair colors among teenage and young adult girls. Are those colors wigs, or do you just really change your hair color that frequently?"

Lilly knew she had to tread carefully on this question. She really didn't want to lie, but neither did she want to come out and admit she wore wigs, as that could give a clue to their true identities. She spoke slowly as she carefully selected her words. "Well, I don't change my hair as much as it appears. I mean, for every day I'm in the spotlight, there are several days when I'm not, so I don't really have to change colors every day. Plus I have the most amazing hairdresser in the world." She surreptitiously squeezed her "hairdresser's" butt with her right hand. "She takes such good care of my hair that I think I _could_ change colors every day and it still be healthy. She's really amazing." Lilly smiled, satisfied with her answer. She had managed to suggest that she did indeed dye her hair those bright colors while still telling the truth all the way around.

At this point the steaks arrived, and Lilly found her attention rather distracted by the luscious meal set out before her. The interview became rather informal as everyone, even Cassie, ate their food with great relish. However, Cassie managed to give Andy another stern look or two while eating, much to her amusement.

As the meal and the interview came to a close, Lilly's phone buzzed silently against her hip. She pulled it out and checked the text message she had just received.

_911_

_need u2 now_

_sarah n dani had a fight_

_lookin 4 sarah now_

_O_

Lilly felt her heart start to speed up, and within seconds Miley had turned around to see what was wrong.

"What's going on, hon?" Miley said, her voice full of concern. Lilly positioned her phone so Miley could lean over and read the message but not show anyone else her phone. When Miley looked up and met Lilly's gaze, her pupils had widened considerably from her sudden fright. She turned to Andy and said, "I'm really sorry, but we need to go. A friend of ours needs us really bad right now." She and Lilly began scooting out of the booth.

"We're really sorry that we have to run," Lilly said sincerely. "I hope you had a good interview with us!"

Andy smiled as he likewise stood. "I had a great interview. You two were very open and answered pretty much every question I had." He paused, then he added, "Truthfully, I ran out of questions a while back, but you two are really fun to be around, so I just kind of kept things going."

Miley and Lilly smiled brightly. "Glad we could be such good interviewees," Miley said as she extended her hand, shaking his again.

"We look forward to seeing the article," Lilly said as she likewise shook his hand. "We shoot the pictures for it this weekend back in L.A."

"I think the article will do a great job of showing how terrific you two truly are," Andy said, smiling. "In a world of Hollywood shallowness and lies, you two are definitely something else."

"Wow, thanks," Lilly said. "That's really sweet of you to say." She turned to see that Miley was talking to their waiter, who really had done a great job. She saw Miley hand him a sizable tip then turned to Cassie and said, "You think you could find us a back way out of here, please?"

Cassie nodded and walked to the rear of the restaurant, where she found a man in a suit she expected was a manager. "Is there another way out of here for the Montanas? They'd prefer to avoid the front exit if at all possible."

He smiled. "Absolutely. We have a private exit this way." Cassie followed him as he showed her down a well-lit hallway whose door was marked _Private—Authorized Personnel Only_. "If you take the stairs up, it takes you to ground level outside. If you take this door here, it leads you back into Crystal City."

"Thanks," Cassie said, then she turned and hurried back into the restaurant, where she found Miley and Lilly standing outside the women's restroom. "Okay, this way," Cassie said as the manager walked past her.

"Thanks for having us! Your steaks are the BEST!" Lilly said loudly as Miley nearly dragged her into the hidden hallway.

As the door closed behind them, Cassie said, "What's the big emergency?" She stood so as to block the door in case anyone tried to follow them. "Oh, and you want to take the door to the left at the end of the hall to get back into Crystal City."

Lilly dropped the pink bag on the floor as she hurriedly shed Lola's outfit. "Sarah and Dani got into a big fight according to Oliver, and now Sarah's missing," she said as she pulled the dress over her head. She caught the shirts that Miley tossed to her and threw Miley's shirt from earlier back to her. "He's looking for her, but he needs us to help find her." She began tugging on her own clothes, finally stepping into her shoes as she handed Miley her sandals. She began stuffing clothes and Miley's wig into the canvas bag, finally scooping it up and throwing it over her shoulder. Right as she began to sprint down the hall, someone grabbed her bag from behind, causing her to spin around and nearly fall against the wall. "HEY!" she said as she finished turning around, coming face to face with Miley. And the large smile on her face. "What's the big idea, Truscott?" Lilly said heatedly. "I coulda fell when you did that!"

Miley reached up to Lilly's head as she said, "And you coulda run outside still wearing this," removing Lola's pink wig from Lilly's head and holding it out in front of her.

"Oh," Lilly said sheepishly. "Sorry." She turned around for Miley to stuff the wig into the pink bag. "Thank you, sweetheart," she said as sweetly as she could.

"You're welcome," Miley said as she turned Lilly around and kissed her on her cheek. "Now let's get going! What are you waiting for?" she yelled as she ran past Lilly and down the hall.

**Author's Afterword:** I need to add to my disclaimers that I make no claims on the outstanding comic book _Hack/Slash_, but I certainly enjoy it immensely. And yes, my character Cassie Hughes shares a first name (and initials) with the comic's protagonist Cassie Hack, but that's the end of the sharing and similarities between them. If you've never read an issue of _Hack/Slash_, take the time to go find one. It's worth it.

Next chapter the truth behind Dani's behavior begin to come out, and Janelle finally pushes her luck too far. Enjoy what she gets in return. Oh, and did I mention one of our beloved characters will be fighting to stay alive? I didn't? Okay, forget I said anything about it. What? You can't forget about it NOW? Oh. Hm. Well, I promise I'll hurry on the next chapter. I've gotten it down to about a week or so between chapters now, and I'm trying hard to keep that pace. See you soon!

-- Jo --


	12. Chapter 12: I'm Not Afraid To Cry

**Author's Note:** Welcome back! We're approaching the end of the second part of this story, and I'm so happy everyone has followed along so far. Thank you for the nice reviews and for being patient readers! I love all of you and hope you're having a great time following the adventures of Miley and Lilly. I have to credit **Heir of Zammitelu** for her suggestion of Sarah and Dani trying to salvage their friendship. I had felt the story was going toward a different, darker outcome for Sarah and Dani, but as I considered her idea I realized that it did fit the story better. As I wrote with that in mind, the story seemed happy to accommodate the change in direction, so if the two of them _can_ rebuild a friendship, they owe it to **HoZ**. And **hpfreak2008**, I'm debating trying to write the entire song "When I'm With You." I've never written a song, but I do have part of this particular one in my head. If the rest of it will come to me, I'll try to put it in one of the upcoming chapters. Happy reading!

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 12: I'm Not Afraid To Cry

_What hurts the most_

_Was being so close_

_And having so much to say_

_And watching you walk away_

_Never knowing_

_What could have been_

_And not seeing that loving you_

_Is what I was trying to do_

--Cascada; "What Hurts the Most"

As Miley and Lilly ran through the subterranean corridors of the Crystal City Mall in Washington, D.C., Miley pulled out her cell phone and speed-dialed Oliver. As soon as he answered, she loudly said, "Okay Oken, spill!"

"_Sarah came to Ashley and me crying. We tried to get her to sit down and talk to us, but she wouldn't. She just said to tell you two that she really appreciated you being her friends and that she was sorry that she didn't tell you herself how much she appreciated that."_

The implication of what Oliver was saying hit Miley like a punch in the stomach. "Oliver, did you get the feeling--"

"_Yeah. Both of us did, Miley. That's why we're going from room to room looking for her."_

Lilly grabbed Miley by her free arm and tugged her to a halt. "Okay Miley, what the heck is going on?" she said, her voice loud with fright. She could feel the icy fear in the pit of Miley's stomach, and she knew something was badly wrong.

Miley turned to her wife and said, "Sarah told Oliver to tell us that she appreciated you and me being her friends, and she felt bad because she didn't tell us herself how much she appreciated that. She was crying when she said it, and now she's gone and they can't find her."

Lilly's face paled considerably. "Ohhh Miley, I don't like the sound of that," she said, her voice's pitch rising slightly as she spoke.

"Neither do I," Miley said before once again talking back into her phone. "Did she say anything else, Oliver? I mean, did she tell you that she and Dani had gotten into a fight or what?"

"_Yeah, she did. She said she had finally got Dani to start talking to her but then Janelle showed up. As soon as Janelle looked at the two of them, Sarah said Dani slapped her and told her she should just go away and stop trying to ruin other people's lives. Once she told us that part, that was when she said to tell you two thanks for being her friends. Then she turned around and ran off."_

"And you didn't think about, oh, maybe _chasing_ her?" Miley said angrily.

"_Miley, we were floored by what she told us!"_ Oliver said, his own voice rising in tone. "_As soon as Ash and I could really think about it we took off after her, but she was already gone."_

"You're right," Miley said, sighing loudly as she ran her hand through her hair. "Sorry."

"_It's okay. But we have to find her. I'm worried about--"_

"Don't say it!" Miley quickly said. "But yeah, we're worried too."

"_We had the hotel check the roof, but they keep all the doors locked, so there's no way Sarah could have gotten up there."_

Miley shivered, and that sensation was shared by her girlfriend. Miley felt Lilly's arm wrap around her waist as Lilly hugged her. "Okay, so she can't get to the roof. Go check the pool."

"_We're on it."_

Miley closed the connection and turned to look at Lilly. "You got any ideas as to where Sarah'd go if she was..." Miley's voice trailed off, as she found it difficult to say the words even to her best friend.

Lilly's eyes were sympathetic as she nodded and said, "It's okay Miles, I know what you mean." She tugged at Miley's arm, setting them in motion once again. "Might as well walk back to the hotel while we think." They reached the doors between two sections of the underground, opening them to the rush of people making their way up and down the escalators to Crystal City's Metro station. The rush of blowing wind and the noise coming up from the station made it harder to think as they crossed to the doors leading back into the section of Crystal City adjacent to their hotel. "Hard to hear with the noise those trains make," Lilly loudly said to Miley as she opened the door for her girlfriend.

Miley froze halfway through the door. She slowly turned to look at Lilly, whose face showed the dawning of the same realization Miley had experienced. "Do you think..." she asked slowly.

"Yeah, I do!" Lilly released the door and grabbed Miley's hand, leading the way as they hurried down the escalator into the depths of the station.

As they reached the Crystal City Metro station the girls slid their Metropasses through the gates, hurrying through and retrieving their cards as they exited. They ran down the escalator, but they didn't see Sarah along the platform. However, when they turned around, they spotted her, standing in a yellow t-shirt and burgundy shorts at the end of the platform closest to the oncoming trains. They hurried toward her, trying to not startle her and make her do something foolish.

Sarah was standing with her toes on the line of lights indicating the safety line passengers were supposed to stand behind. As Miley and Lilly drew within thirty feet of her, she turned to look at them. "Just... don't," she said, her voice thick from crying. "Don't get any closer to me."

Lilly held tightly onto Miley's left arm as Miley stepped forward. Words were more her forte that they were Lilly's, and Lilly had already ceded the lead to her wife for this task. "Sarah, she's not worth this. No one is worth killing yourself for," Miley said as she stood as still as she possibly could.

"How do you know?" Sarah said, turning her head slightly to give Miley an angry glare. "You don't know everything Dani said to me! Everything she did to me when I tried to talk to her about it!"

"You're right," Miley quickly said. "I don't know. But I do know that you're one of the nicest, most positive girls I've ever met. And Lilly and I both truly believe that this world is much better off with you in it."

"Sarah, you're meant to accomplish something amazing in life," Lilly said gently. "Whatever it is, it's going to change the world for the better. But you have to listen to us. Please!"

Sarah turned her head again to look at Miley and Lilly. As she did so, the lights along the platform began to flash on and off, signifying the approach of a train. When Sarah opened her mouth to speak, the tears were visible on her cheeks, reddened from crying. "SHE BROKE MY HEART!!" she yelled, her anguish tangible in her voice. She pounded her closed fist against her chest three times as she added, "I _HURT_ inside!" She turned away from them, staring across the rails. "I'm tired of hurting this way."

Miley and Lilly could hear the whine of the oncoming train now. "Sarah," Miley said one final time, "we know you're hurting. Don't hurt yourself any more, please."

"We care about you, Sarah," Lilly quickly added as she could see the light of the train approaching the corner deep in the tunnel. "Please, talk to us so we can help you get through this!" she said hurriedly, pleading with her voice while she prayed with all her heart for Sarah just to stay there, to not move the least bit forward.

The rush of oncoming wind preceded the train's arrival by a second, a second that hung in the air for much longer than it should have. Sarah looked forward, staring at the wall of the station as the train sped toward the platform. Miley felt her heart race as she reached out to Sarah, unable to summon the will to make her legs move. Lilly held tightly to Miley, not wanting to watch in case Sarah stepped forward but unable to look away in case she didn't. As that long, interminable second ticked past, Sarah moved.

She half turned, half crumpled as she fell to the floor of the platform, away from the train. As she hit the floor sobbing, Miley and Lilly raced forward, falling to the ground to hold their friend as her body convulsed with heart-wrenching cries. "Shhh," Miley said as she guided Sarah's head into her lap while Lilly gathered Sarah's long hair and held it out of her face, gently rubbing her shoulder with her free hand. "You're gonna get through this, Sarah."

"You're better than she is," Lilly said as the train, having taken on a load of passengers, pulled away from the station. "Do you think you can walk back up to the room?"

Sarah looked up at Lilly and nodded her head. The three of them stood gingerly, with Miley and Lilly on each side of Sarah just in case... Well, just in case anything were to happen. They slowly made their way up the escalator and through the exit gate. Sarah had held onto her Metropass, and she used it now as she followed Miley through the gate. Sarah's tears continued to fall as they walked though Crystal City, but they decreased in frequency and intensity as they drew closer to the Marriott.

As they made their way through the spacious lobby and onto the elevator, they turned as the doors closed, leaving just the three of them inside the elevator cab.

"Thank you," Sarah said, her head bowed. "I... I was about to do something that I now see would have been pointless. I would have hurt myself, hurt my family, hurt my friends, all over some stupid... _girl_!" She lifted her head, and once again anger was evident on her face. But it only persisted for a fleeting second, then it was replaced by a blankly neutral expression. "Killing myself wouldn't have fixed things."

"No," Lilly said quietly. "It never does."

"It only makes things worse for everyone left behind," Miley added. The doors opened on their floor, and the three of them quickly made their way to their room. Only a few students were out in the hall talking and laughing, and they were at the far end of the hall. Lilly quickly used her key to open the door so the three of them could get into the room. As they entered, they saw Cassie Hughes talking on the phone. She spun at the sound of the door closing, and the dawning of relief on her face was evident to everyone.

"Sarah!" Cassie said as she ran across the room to meet the girls, hugging Sarah tightly as Miley and Lilly released her and sat down on their bed. "Where have you been?"

Sarah looked over Cassie's shoulder at Miley and Lilly, who both just shrugged their shoulders to indicate they were okay with whatever Sarah chose to tell their teacher. "I had gone down to the Metro station," she said, "but they found me and brought me back."

Cassie pulled back and looked into Sarah's eyes, and the tears brimming deep in their emerald depths were quite evident to Sarah. Seeing them and knowing that she had put them there touched Sarah deeply, and suddenly she felt ashamed for what she had done as well as for what she had _almost_ done. But then Cassie smiled, and Sarah felt relief flood through her body.

"They stopped me from--" Sarah said, but she was cut off by Cassie's whisper.

"Shhhh," Cassie said as she sat down with Sarah, still holding this sweet young woman she had grown to know over the last year. No one deserved to be treated so cruelly as Sarah had been over the last few days, and the gentle, kind-hearted Sarah had almost crumbled under the harsh words and mean gestures that had been visited upon her. As she considered how Sarah's innate compassion had almost allowed her to be pushed too far, Cassie felt an emotion quite the opposite of compassion surge through her own body. She looked over at Miley and Lilly, and she saw matching fury in the two pairs of blue eyes looking back at her. "Find whoever did this to her," Cassie said, her voice tight. "And try to save some for me."

Miley and Lilly stood and nodded. Not another word was spoken as they left the hotel room. As soon as they were out in the hallway, Lilly stomped down the hallway in the direction of the other rooms. Miley trailed behind her girlfriend and pulled out her cell phone, quickly dialing Oliver's number. The call went straight to his voice mail, so Miley quickly said, "Oliver, we found Sarah and she's okay. Call me back, because we need to talk." Ahead, Miley saw Lilly turn and charge into the room that Dani Kent was staying in with several of her volleyball teammates. She snapped shut her phone and said a silent prayer asking for the room to be empty.

"Where's Dani?" Lilly screamed as she came into the room, startling the four girls watching television inside. However, they quickly recovered and jumped to their feet, forming a tight bunch as Miley came up behind Lilly. Judging from the set of her shoulders, Lilly wasn't the least bit intimidated by the two-to-one odds inside the room. "I said, where's Dani?" she repeated just as loudly as the first time.

"Oh, we heard you, Lilly," said one of the taller girls, whom Miley and Lilly knew only as Heidi. "Or is it Lezzy?" she said with a sneer, getting laughs from the other girls. "What are you planning on doing with her once you find her? Cry about little Sarah?"

Miley reached forward and placed her hand against the small of Lilly's back, silently telling her that she was there and standing with her. "You let us worry about what we're gonna do with her once we find her," Miley said. "Just tell us where she is."

"Ooooh, the other Dyke Queen speaks!" Heidi said, again getting a round of laughs from her friends. "So which one of you gets to be on top?"

"We take turns," Miley said, just as defiant in her stance. "Which one of you gets to be first in line to kiss Dani's ass?"

Suddenly the smirk was gone from Heidi's face, and her voice was much colder as she said, "If I were the two of you, I'd be apologizing right now. There aren't any teachers staying in _this_ room in case you hadn't noticed." She stepped forward until she was looking down at Lilly and Miley, only inches away from Lilly, who had moved to stand between Miley and Heidi. "I think you two are about to get taught a lesson in manners."

A new voice behind Miley clearly said, "Yeah, but you're not going to be one teaching that lesson."

Lilly kept her eyes on Heidi, but Miley turned around to see Jaime Escante, Gina Giles, Brooke Huntsinger and Lindsay Porter, all soccer teammates of Lilly's, walking into the now-crowded room. She kept herself from laughing, but a small smile escaped her control and appeared on her face as she turned back around to resume glaring at Heidi.

"Sounds like the odds just changed," Lilly said, her face somber. "And I can already tell you who'll be the first one to hit the ground... Heidi."

The ringing of Miley's phone resounded throughout the tense stillness of the room. She recognized the simple ring as a call from Oliver, so she flipped open the phone without looking at it. "Hello?"

"_Miles, you and Lilly need to get down to the pool. Dani and Janelle are down here bragging about how they had Sarah lying on the floor crying earlier."_

"We're on our way," Miley said. She snapped her phone shut and said, "He found them, Lil."

"You two go deal with those _putas_," Jamie said. "We've got your backs."

Miley gave Jamie and Lilly's other soccer teammates a grateful smile, then she stepped through them as Lilly turned and followed her out of the room.

As they rode the elevator down to the floor with the pool, Miley and Lilly stood with identical postures, both standing stiffly with arms crossed across her chest. "Are we going to talk to them first?" Miley asked Lilly, keeping her eyes fixed on the number indicating their current floor position.

"Of course," Lilly said, but the tone in her voice suggested she had other ideas in mind.

"You do remember that Janelle and Dani both are bigger than you, right?" Miley asked, concerned about her wife's safety.

"Yeah, I remember," Lilly said. She turned to look at Miley and gave her a reassuring smile. "But if that witch Janelle says something ugly to you, she is _so_ going to get her ass kicked."

Miley knew better than to tell Lilly not to challenge the larger girl. Instead, she smiled and said, "Thanks, girlfriend," as she hugged the other half of her heart, resting firmly in the body of her best friend. "I couldn't have a better protector."

"Yeah, you got it pretty good," Lilly said as she hugged Miley back, smiling at the giggle that elicited from her wife.

The opening of the elevator doors revealed three girls that Miley and Lilly knew as part of their senior class but didn't know well enough to remember their names at the moment. Judging from the towels wrapped around their bodies, the girls were on their way back back up to the rooms, but as Miley and Lilly stepped off the elevator and began walking to the pool, the three girls turned and followed them. As they walked down the hallway they passed two male classmates who also turned to follow them back to the pool. Miley glanced over at Lilly, both of them thinking the same thought: _It was on_. One way or another, this was about to be settled.

Miley opened the door to the pool for Lilly, letting her girlfriend stride into the pool area. Within seconds, the laughing, yelling and splashing died down to low chatter and murmurs. Lilly searched the crowd off to the sides of the pool, and she quickly spotted Janelle Gertz, leaning against the wall across the pool area from them. Sitting next to Janelle and looking rather unhappy was Dani Kent. Lilly turned and hurried across the patio to Janelle and her small crowd of devotees, who began to close ranks around the intimidating young woman.

Lilly came to a halt three feet away from Janelle, who dropped a cigarette onto the ground and stepped on it nonchalantly, grinding it against the floor tile. "I'll deal with you in a minute," Lilly said firmly as she locked glares with Janelle, then she turned to look down at Dani. "You should be ashamed of yourself!" Lilly hissed at Dani. "Sarah really cared about you! Why, I have _no_ idea, but she did! And you led her on, made her think that you cared about her too, then you just ripped her heart out!" As Lilly continued, her voice rose until it was a solid yell. "What kind of person _are_ you, Dani?" Lilly was so angry that she was shaking, but when Dani raised her head and met her stare, even she was unprepared for what she saw in the taller girl's bloodshot eyes: anguish.

"I'm not a person," Dani said in a voice thick with agony before her gaze fell back to the floor. "I took someone who cared about me, and I hurt her. Badly."

"Yeah, you sure as heck did!" Miley said harshly, stepping forward until she stood beside Lilly. "She's upstairs crying her heart out because of whatever it was you said to her tonight!"

"Serves her right," Janelle said coldly, drawing the glare of both Miley and Lilly back to her. "Fucking dyke."

"You've got a big, nasty mouth, Janelle," Lilly said hotly as she took a step forward. "And it's about time somebody shut it for you."

Janelle pushed off the wall and drew herself up to her full height. While not as tall as Dani, she was close to six feet tall and nearly as broad as The Cracker had been. Lilly gave up at least four inches and close to forty pounds, but she showed no sign of fear as the two girls faced off. Janelle began to step around Lilly in a slow arc, keeping her gaze firmly on the smaller blonde as she shook her arms out and balled her hands up into fists. Lilly kept a wary eye on the black-haired girl, concentrating so intently that she never saw Janelle's friend Gretchen, standing to her right, throw the punch that connected solidly with her right temple.

"Lilly!" Miley screamed as she saw her wife's head snap to the side and her body fall backwards into the pool. She turned to jump into the pool, but hands on her arms held her in place. She jerked her head around, ready to headbutt whomever was holding her until she recognized a head full of dark brown hair .

"I've got her, Miley," Oliver said as he pushed Miley away from the pool then jumped in, clothes and all. With just two strokes he reached Lilly and lifted her head above the surface of the water. Once he had a firm grip, he swam backwards to the shallow end of the pool, carefully bringing Lilly with him.

Miley's heart was fluttering as she saw the love of her life being limply pulled through the water by their friend. But then she saw Lilly's lips move, then cough as she spit water out of her mouth. She could see her wife's eyes as they struggled to open, and then her brain began to register a second sensation, this one auditory: the sound of laughter behind her. Miley whirled around only to see Janelle and her three supporters having a good laugh at what had happened to Lilly. As the rage began to seethe inside Miley, Dani unwisely chose that particular time to stand.

Later Miley would find out that Dani had stood up to tell Miley that she had no idea that Gretchen was going to do that. But that would be later. This was now. As Dani stood, Miley felt rational thought flee from her mind as her formidable temper began to boil over. She grabbed Dani and spun, throwing the much taller girl into the pool. Miley spared a glance at her lover, and she could see that Lilly was standing on her own feet as Oliver was helping her up the steps and out of the pool.

Normally in a situation such as this one, Miley would let nothing stand between herself and Lilly, but this was far from a normal situation. The last remaining rational thought in her mind told her that Lilly was okay, and then it too faded. Miley spun back around and locked in on the sneering face of Janelle Gertz. She could see the smirk as Janelle's mouth opened and closed, but Miley was too far gone to register any words uttered. Her vision blurred, then streaked, and then all conscious thought was gone for the normally peaceful young woman.

As Miley's thoughts slowly became her own again, she could hear a rumble of noises around her as her mind tried to process the simultaneous input of multiple signals. But amid the stinging in her hands, the heat flushing through her face, the sweat dripping down her back, the metallic taste swirling in her mouth, one particular noise, a voice almost musical in its pitch and tone, cut through all other signals. Miley locked onto that beautiful, lovely voice and pushed all her other senses aside. _What happened?_

"Miley! Miley, it's me!" Lilly said loudly as she held Miley in her lap, gently shaking her in an attempt to coax her Miley back into control.

Miley blinked, setting the world back into sharp focus, then her blue eyes settled on Lilly's face. "Lilly? Are you okay?" she asked. As she spoke she noticed her mouth hurt, then she had to turn and spit onto the tile floor what she immediately realized was blood out of her mouth.

"I'm fine," Lilly said as the smile that Miley found more beautiful that a spring morning sunrise blossomed across her face. "How about you?"

Miley reached up to feel her mouth, but the stinging pain in her hands made her look down. The redness across her knuckles was surprising, but the scrapes and spatter of blood on the back of her right hand was positively shocking. "What happened?" she asked. The time between throwing Dani into the pool and now was simply gone, unable for her brain to access it.

Lilly gently kissed Miley on the lips. Miley winced slightly at the sting in her upper lip at first, but the warm comfort of Lilly's kiss immediately superseded the slight discomfort. As Lilly slowly pulled her face back, she smiled again and said, "You defended _me_ this time, Miles. And you did one heck of a job at it."

Miley slowly looked around, realizing that they were still in the hotel's pool area. Several of their classmates were standing around them, looking down with equal amounts of concern and awe at the two of them. Then she heard another familiar voice as Oliver could be heard to say, "Coming through! Coming through!" The crowd parted to let him kneel down next to Miley and Lilly, Ashley right behind him. Oliver was still thoroughly soaked, but the smile on his face suggested he wasn't the least bit bothered by it. "Here," he said as he handed a wadded-up towel to Lilly, who gently applied it to Miley's mouth. As the cold sensation of the towel spread across Miley's face, Oliver said, "The ice will help keep the swelling down." He grinned widely as he regarded Miley, then he said, "I brought one for your hands, too. Figured you could use one for them too."

Miley took the second towel and laid it across her stinging right hand only to realize that her left hand ached as well. She slid it underneath the cold towel filled with ice and immediately felt better. "Okay, can someone tell me just what the heck happened?" Miley asked the small crowd standing around her.

"You just stomped Janelle and her posse into the ground, Miley," Oliver said with a large grin. "You yelled something about not getting between a wildcat and her family, then BOOM! You just layed into all four of them. One of them got you on the jaw, but when you broke Janelle's nose that seemed to take the fight out of them. Remind me to never make you mad like that."

Miley thought back and shuddered as she mentally replayed Lilly being sucker punched and falling into the pool. She remembered tossing Dani into the pool, then... She concentrated, which succeeded mainly in making her head hurt.

"We can talk about it later, Miles," Lilly said tenderly. "But right now I need to get you back up to the room so you can lie down. Plus we need to check on Sarah, too."

Miley nodded as she tried to process what Oliver had said. _I took on all four of them? By myself? And WON?_ She and Lilly walked across the pool area; as they approached another small crowd, Miley could see Janelle sitting on the ground, hands over her face and blood running down the front of her shirt. She felt Lilly stop, so Miley stopped as well.

"Oh, and Janelle?" Lilly said, her voice mockingly sweet. "I suggest you tell everyone that you slipped getting out of the pool. It'd look really bad if the whole school found out about you getting your bitchy ass stomped by my wife, especially since your friend Gretchen started it by cold-cocking me. I expect there are lots more girls back home who'd want to fight you then."

Miley smiled, sending a twinge of pain through her mouth and jaw, but she didn't notice it much at all. Lilly was exactly right. Janelle had made many, many enemies at Seaview, and once all of them found out she wasn't as tough as she let on, there would be an endless stream of payback waiting for her. Miley saw that Lilly had turned back to her, so they began walking back to the elevator.

As they entered their room, they saw that Sarah was sitting on the bed talking to Cassie. "Hey Sarah," Miley said. "You feeling better?"

"Yeah, I—HOLY COW! What happened to you?" Sarah jumped up off the bed as soon as she got a good look at Miley's swollen lip and reddened cheek.

"Let's just say that Janelle won't be bothering you any more," Lilly said proudly. "My woman here put that Cracker wanna-be in her place." She rubbed Miley's shoulders as they sat down on their bed. She leaned forward to kiss Miley on the right side of her neck, then she asked, "Want me to get your pajamas for you, hon?"

Miley smiled. "That would be great, Lil. Love you."

"Love you too," Lilly said as she stood up and walked over to their suitcases. She found their blue Eeyore pajamas rolled together into one bundle, but when she stood and turned around she saw a most unexpected visitor entering the open room. "What are you doing here, Dani?" Lilly said as she walked toward the tall raven-haired young woman.

While Dani wasn't dripping wet any more, it was obvious that she hadn't changed clothes or even tried to do anything with her hair since being flung into the pool. She looked at Lilly and Cassie, but she was unable to meet Sarah's gaze. "I came to say... I'm sorry. To Sarah."

"A bit late, don't ya think?" Miley said as she sat up straighter on the bed. "Considerin' you spent the last two weeks making her feel lousy?"

"Let her talk, Miley," Sarah said clearly. "I want to hear this."

Now Dani looked up and was able to meet the haunting gaze of her former friend. "I know I hurt you really, really badly, Sarah. And I truly am sorry."

Sarah's voice was low as she replied, "I... I was falling in love with you, Dani. But even before that, you were my friend. Why did you do this?"

"Janelle hated both of us," Dani said as she knelt down on both knees in front of Sarah, looking slightly up at her. "She hated me because I stole her boyfriend our sophomore year, and she hated you because you're everything she isn't. Good, kind, sweet, smart, successful. And she hated us both for sealing the case against Amber, who had been hanging out with her since Ashley ditched Amber. When we started seeing each other, she saw it as the perfect opportunity to get back at us both."

"But why did you help her?" Sarah said, her voice pleading for understanding. "_How_ could you help her?"

"She threatened to tell my parents that I was gay if I didn't help her," Dani said. "And you know how my parents would have reacted to that."

Sarah nodded. Dani's parents were even more hostile to homosexuality than hers were. "Yeah, that's part of why we were keeping things secret," she said calmly. "But that's no excuse for what you were doing to me."

"You're right," Dani said, looking back down at the floor before she lifted her gaze back up. "She also threatened to tell your parents that you were gay too. And I couldn't let you get hurt, not by your own family."

"So you thought it was better to treat her like you did?" Miley asked incredulously. "How do ya figure that?"

"School ends at three, Miley," Dani said hotly. "But Sarah has to live with her parents for now. And trust me, they'd make her life pure hell if they knew she was a lesbian. THAT'S why I--"

"I'm telling them when I get home," Sarah said, cutting Dani off.

"What?" Dani said loudly. "Sarah, you can't!"

"Yes I can!" Sarah said just as loudly. "If I had told them as soon as I figured it out, then none of this would have happened."

"Whoa!" Lilly said as she gently squeezed Sarah's left shoulder. "I once had someone very smart tell me that I shouldn't try to blame myself for mean things that other people choose to do. Now I'm telling you that, Sarah. If you think you need to tell your parents then do it, but don't try to blame yourself for anything that Dani or Janelle did to you." Lilly looked down at Dani as she added, "They made their own decisions, and now they have to deal with the consequences."

Miley stood and moved behind Dani. "I think it's time for you to go, Dani," she said, and the tone of voice left no room for discussion.

Dani stood but didn't turn around. "Sarah, I'm sorry again," she said softly.

Sarah likewise stood, but she didn't move any closer to her former friend. "Okay. I accept your apology. But I don't know if I can ever trust you again."

"I can understand that," Dani said. "I deserve it."

"Yeah, you do. But maybe someday we can be friends again."

Dani smiled slightly. "I hope so," she said. She looked at Lilly. "Lilly, I'm sorry for any trouble I caused you and Miley."

"What you did to us was nothing compared to what you did to Sarah, Dani," Lilly said. "I'm not sure she should ever be your friend again, but that's up to her." Lilly's normally happy face remained as cold as marble as she held Dani's gaze.

"C'mon," Miley said as she carefully took Dani's elbow. "It's time to go." She led Dani to the door and watched her walk down the hall toward her own room. Once she was sure that Dani wasn't going to turn around, she went back into the room only to be met by Lilly and a pair of pajamas.

"Go change," Lilly said. She ran her hand across Miley's chest between her breasts, patting her sternum lovingly. "You need to get some rest."

The ringing of the phone brought Cassie off the bed. "Hello?" she said as she picked up the phone. She listened for a minute, then she said, "Okay, I'll be right there." She hung up the phone and grabbed her purse. "I'll be back in a minute, girls. Go ahead and close the door so no one else can come in tonight. I don't think anyone'll say anything about it." She looked at Miley and Lilly as she walked to the door. "And when I get back I want to hear how those scrapes got on your hands and your lip got busted, Miley." She pulled the door until it clicked, signifying it locking.

"Busted," Lilly said, grimacing. "Oh well, let's go ahead and change hon."

Before Miley could reply, the two of them were pulled into a surprisingly firm hug by Sarah. "Thank you two," she said. "You've been such good friends to me that I don't know how to thank you."

"Be happy," Miley said. "That'd work."

"Yeah!" added Lilly. "Plus you could help us with our research papers in Biology 2 when we get back..."

"Lilly!" Miley said as she gave Lilly a mild Look.

"Well, we could use the help!" Lilly protested weakly.

"I'd be happy to help you two," Sarah said with a smile. She paused, and then she began to blush. "And I'd... be willing to do... anything else the two of you... wanted." She looked down at the ground, blushing furiously now. Miley and Lilly just looked at her for a few seconds, unclear as to the meaning of her words. Sarah swallowed. _I've already made a fool of myself now, might as well keep on._ "I mean, since we're alone... Maybe that way I could repay you two for everything you've done to help me."

The meaning of Sarah's words hit Miley like a sledgehammer. "Oh Sarah, sweetie, no. You really don't have to do that," she said.

"Do what?" Lilly asked as she turned to Miley, still confused.

"Do... _THAT_," Miley said, lifting her eyebrows. When Lilly still didn't get it, Miley cleared her throat and said with a lower, more sultry voice, "You know. _THAT_."

Lilly's eyes grew huge as she grasped what Miley was saying. She turned around, searching for the right words so as not to crush Sarah's spirits any more than she had already experienced tonight. "Sarah, that's... really generous of you, but we can't. Miley and I are married, remember? The only person I'll ever make love to will be Miley, and I'll be the only one she ever makes love to."

Miley lifted Sarah's face up gently. "Sarah, your first time needs to be special. Lilly and I were lucky enough to be able to experience that with each other. Maybe you can share your first time with the woman you're supposed to be with." Miley could see relief enter Sarah's face, and she smiled at seeing that. "We're really flattered that you'd do that for us, but we're exclusive."

"Now and forever." The words slipped softly off Lilly's lips, unbidden but very appropriate. She looked at Miley as the two of them once again considered what those three small words meant to them. To their future.

"Now and forever," Miley said in reply as they smiled at each other. She turned back to Sarah as she and Lilly now turned the tables and wrapped Sarah in a joint hug. "But we'll always be your friends, Sarah."

Sarah felt tears run down her cheeks. "Thank you," she choked out. "Right now, I think... that's exactly what I need."

"C'mon," Miley said, "all of us need to get some rest."

Sarah slid into her bed as Miley and Lilly quickly changed into their pajamas. Once they were done, they too fell into their bed. Miley reached over and turned off the lamp, plunging the room into a calming darkness broken only by the glow of the bathroom light as it oozed through the opening where the door was cracked slightly.

"Good night, Sarah," Lilly and Miley said together.

"Good night to you two. And thanks again. For everything."

"You're welcome," the two Truscotts answered jointly. Miley turned as she slid into Lilly's comforting embrace. "Love you, Lilly Bear," she said as she kissed Lilly slowly.

Lilly grinned as they ended their kiss and closed their eyes to say their prayers. "Love you too... wildcat."

**Author's Afterword:** Hope everyone is having a good summer so far! These past two weeks were worse than I had expected, but this chapter has finally arrived. Next chapter wraps up the Washington, D.C. arc and the second phase of this story, and you'll find out who's going to be fighting for life. The clues have been there throughout this story, but they've been very subtle. See you soon, and happy reading!

-- Jo --


	13. Chapter 13: Things Are Darkest

**Author's Note:** Yay! Time for another chapter in our story! My deep thanks go to everyone for the sweet reviews for the previous chapter, as well as those who are just now picking up some of the earlier stories in my Lileyverse. These kind comments really do make an author feel better, particularly when things in life take a turn for the worse. I get a great deal of self-therapy with my writing, and having others who enjoy it so much brightens my day even more. Hope everyone loves this next chapter as well!

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 13: Things Are Darkest

_Do you know what it's all about_

_Are you brave enough to figure out_

_Know that you could set your world on fire_

_If you are strong enough to leave your doubts_

--Kerli; "Walking On Air"

_As the door to the dressing room opened, a production assistant stuck her head in the room and said, "Two minutes, ladies."_

_Miley looked over at the thrilling sight on the couch beside her: Lilly in her Lola outfit with her magenta wig holding their baby daughter. Lilly was feeding her Miley's own breast milk that she had pumped previously, and little Brooke was eating away. "You are so beautiful," Lilly cooed as she gently stroked the baby's fine blonde hair._

"_Funny, I was just thinking the same thing," Miley said as she gave the two most important people in her life her most dazzling smile. Miley felt the now-recognizable shimmering sensation that indicated she was in one of her special dreams as she looked lovingly at her family. "You dreaming too?" she asked Lilly._

"_Yeah," Lilly said, glancing up to smile back at Miley. "Realized it about a minute ago. I was just waiting for it to hit you too."_

"_Nice surprise, huh?" Miley said, leaning forward to kiss Brooke on the top of her head. The baby stopped sucking on the bottle for just a second at her birth mother's touch, then she greedily resumed her feeding, much to Lilly's delight._

"_Thank you for letting me feed her, hon," Lilly said. "I think it's really important that both of us take the time to feed her and burp her."_

"_Of course. We share everything, remember?"_

"_Oh yes." Lilly smiled. "Wonder what we're doing here? Or heck, where exactly 'here' is."_

_Before Miley could reply, another knock came at the door. "Alright ladies, time to hit the stage. Ms. Winfrey is introducing you right now."_

_Miley and Lilly stood, with Miley grabbing the brightly colored diaper bag on the floor next to them as they stood. She took a quick look at it and was surprised when she saw its yellow background was adorned with various stars, guitars, butterflies, lightning bolts and many of the now-familiar HM and LM logos. "You see this?" she said, holding the bag up for Lilly to take in._

"_Oh wow!" Lilly said with a squeal. Brooke stopped eating for a moment and sleepily blinked her eyes open, giving Lilly a baby Look with her matching sapphire eyes. "Sorry little jellybean," Lilly whispered. "Momma'll be quieter." _

_The two of them followed the PA down the hall, drawing gasps and coos from everyone they passed on the way to the stage. As they reached the side of the stage, they could hear Oprah Winfrey finishing her introduction._

"_And today these two young ladies have brought a very special guest with them for us to all meet for the very first time. They'll also be revealing their baby's name right here on today's show."_

_Lilly turned and looked at Miley with a look of total surprise. While they had already agreed on a real name for their first baby, they hadn't really discussed a celebrity name for her yet. They had decided she would need an alter ego of her own, but other than laughing about a few names that were totally out of the question they hadn't put much thought into it. Miley shrugged her shoulders. "Something'll come to us," she whispered to her wife._

"_And now, please welcome for the very first time anywhere, Mrs. Hannah and Lola Montana and their new baby girl!" Oprah led the audience in clapping as Miley and Lilly stepped onto the stage. At the sound of the loud applause Brooke opened her eyes wide but continued to work on her bottle with relish. Oprah gave Miley and Lilly each a hug then gently patted baby Brooke's head. The three women sat down, Miley and Lilly taking the couch beside Oprah while the host scooted her chair closer to her three guests. "Oh, she is adorable!" Oprah said dotingly. She looked more closely at Brooke and then made a show of analyzing both Miley and Lilly as well, drawing laughs from the audience. "I think she looks like both of you!"_

"_Well, that's good, since we both had a hand in making her," Miley said to loud laughter from the audience._

_Oprah pointed at Miley and said, "So you two were successful with the transformed stem cell fertilization process you were talking about last year, I take it?"_

"_Yep," Miley said as Lilly also nodded her head. "I carried this little girl around for ten months and gave birth to her, but she's half Lola in every way."_

_Lilly added, "I get the second baby," with a sly smile on her face._

_The audience made sounds of surprise as Oprah looked similarly caught off-guard. "So there's going to be a second little Montana?"_

"_Oh yeah, probably in two or three years," Lilly said. "Being with my wife the whole way was amazing, but I want to experience everything she did. I want to bring her child to life just like she has mine." Lilly saw a tear slip out of the corner of Miley's ear as she spoke. She was fighting to keep from becoming teary-eyed herself. She gently handed Brooke over to Miley, as she could tell Miley was wanting to hold their daughter. Once Brooke was safely in her other mother's arms, Lilly put the empty bottle in the diaper bag and pulled out a second full one, still warm. She handed it to Miley with a smile._

"_This little hoss eats!" Miley said gleefully as she tickled Brooke's chin with the bottle, getting her to open her mouth slightly, then guided the nipple into her mouth skillfully. At home Miley normally fed Brooke directly from her breast, but that was a bit out of the question on live television. As Brooke latched onto the bottle firmly and began eating again, Miley looked up at Lilly and said, "Always starvin', just like you," getting laughs from the audience._

"_We have healthy appetites!" Lilly said, playing along with her best friend. "She snores like you, though," she added more quietly, to even more laughs from the audience._

_Oprah took that opportunity to ask the question that was on everyone's minds. "So, Hannah, Lola... We want to know what your baby's name is!" _

_The audience cheered and clapped at that question as Miley and Lilly looked at each other. Neither of them was really sure what to say, so they continued to stare into each other's eyes for several seconds until something quite unusual happened. Miley distinctly heard a faint voice whisper a name into her right ear. At the same time she saw a startled expression on Lilly's face as well. They looked at each other, their faces slightly pale, then they simultaneously said, "Megan."_

"_Megan Montana! That's adorable!" Oprah said as the audience cheered._

_Miley swallowed as Lilly took her hand and held it tightly. The look on her face said that she was just as stunned by what had just happened as Miley was. Then Lilly's expression softened and was quickly replaced by a smile. Miley opened her mouth to ask what Lilly had just thought of, then she smelled a hauntingly familiar smell. The last time she had smelled this particular perfume had been on a cold December afternoon as the two of them had stood in a tiny cemetery in Misty Hollow, Tennessee. Now Miley herself smiled as she felt a feeling of warmth flow into her body, something she expected Lilly had just felt as well. Even their daughter stopped feeding for just a moment and blinked her eyes. For a fraction of a second, Miley thought she could hear the faint sound of a kiss being placed on little Brooke's head, then the sound was gone and her daughter began sucking on the bottle again. As Lilly leaned in against her to hide the tears now in her own eyes as well, Miley lowered her head and whispered, "Thanks, Mom."_

The ringing of the hotel room's phone woke Miley from her sleep. She slid over to pick up the phone, dragging Lilly along with her since Lilly refused to release Miley from her firm grasp. "Ugh," Miley grunted softly as she scooted across the bed. "Like draggin' a sack a' hammers." After a few rings she was able to reach the phone, which showed no sign of relenting its loud assault on their sleep. As Miley finally grasped the receiver, she smiled and mumbled, "H'lo?" as she lifted it to her ear.

"_This is Cassie. Who am I speaking with?"_

"Miley," she mumbled in reply. "Wha's up, Ms. Hughes?"

"I'm on my way back from the hospital."

As the word hospital registered in Miley's brain, she felt sleep fall away from her as adrenaline shot into her circulation. She sat up as Lilly tossed and kicked twice beside her, her wife's body no doubt echoing what was going on in her own. "Are you okay?" Miley said.

"_I'm fine."_ There was a pause, and then her voice said, _"It's Mr. Corelli."_

"Miley?" Lilly said as she sat up beside her wife. Miley turned to look at her blonde lover and noted the shimmer of sweat on her forehead and the look of concern in her eyes. "What's going on?"

"Ms. Hughes is on the phone, hon. She's on her way back from the hospital. Mr. Corelli..." She trailed off when she realized that she really didn't know exactly what _was_ wrong with their eccentric teacher. "Is he okay?" Miley asked, her voice breaking as it came forth. While Mr. Corelli came up with some truly goofy ideas over the years, he was a good teacher who loved teaching and cared about his students. He had also stood up for both Miley and Lilly at various times over their school careers, and both of them had grown to like the man.

Lilly took Miley's hand as Miley slightly angled the phone away from her ear, allowing Lilly to listen as well.

"_Pete—Mr. Corelli, sorry—had a heart attack tonight. They're not sure if he's going to make it."_

Miley and Lilly both gasped as they began to fear the worst. "What happened?" Lilly said, more to Miley than to the phone, but her words were audible to Cassie.

"_Look, girls, right now he's okay, but they've got him on a ventilator because his lungs are collapsing in several places. The doctors said he had a really bad pneumonia that's making areas of his lungs shut down and that the difficulty breathing is probably what triggered the heart attack. But they also said that the fact he made it into the hospital was a great sign, because they think they can get his lungs working again. They had already opened the blocked artery in his heart and put something in there to keep it open when his lungs started closing off. They said that it'd probably take a few days to let the antibiotics work, and they're keeping him on the ventilator for now. Other than that, they said we'd just have to wait and see how he did today." _

Miley and Lilly digested the shocking news. "Are you coming back to the hotel?" Miley said, looking at the clock. _Wow, it's six in the morning. She must have been up all night._

"_Yeah,"_ Cassie said, and now the fatigue in her voice was evident. _"Somebody's got to run the show with Mr. Corelli in the hospital. I should be there in a few minutes."_

"Okay," said Miley. She was at a loss for anything else to say. As Cassie hung up her phone, Miley replaced the handset back on the phone's cradle. She turned to look at Lilly. Up to this point, Miley had done a good job not breaking down and crying, but seeing Lilly's bottom lip quivering completely wiped out all her restraint. Both young women held each other tightly as they lay back down and covered themselves with their blanket, hoping that their grief didn't disturb Sarah's sleep.

"What if he dies, Miley?" Lilly said. "I mean, away from home and everything?"

"He's not going to die, Lilly. Ms. Hughes said as much."

"But things can happen, Miley. Like they did with my grandma last year."

"But your grandma was a lot older than Mr. Corelli, Lilly. And she'd had a bad heart for years."

Miley had met Lilly's grandmother finally a little over a year ago, during happier times. Lilly had taken her out to the nursing home to see her only living grandparent for Christmas, after Miley had repeatedly asked to meet her. While she had no more desire to step into a nursing home than Lilly did, Miley felt like she had an obligation to meet all of Lilly's relatives given her new status as Lilly's wife. While the elderly woman never did seem to grasp the concept of the two girls being married to each other, she was quite happy to see her granddaughter and her girlfriend. When the two of them had finally left later that day, Lilly and Miley both felt more at ease with things. Lilly's grandmother was at peace with her life and with her inevitable death and she had seen how happy Lilly was with her life, and that knowledge made her passing several months later easier for Lilly.

Lilly sniffed for a minute as she buried her head in her wife's long chestnut locks. She breathed in and out, involuntarily smiling as she smelled the familiar scent of Miley's hair. She knew that her wife was right. After another cleansing breath, Lilly said, "I know you're right, Miles. I'm just really worried."

"So am I, Lilly. But right now there's nothing we can do except help Ms. Hughes and pray for Mr. Corelli to pull through this."

Lilly nodded, her face still firmly buried in Miley's hair. "Yeah," she said.

As Lilly grew silent, Miley knew that she was praying, so she added her own prayer for Mr. Corelli. He truly was a caring teacher, and Miley felt like she owed him particularly for what he did for Lilly at the freshman talent show. Lilly and Miley's plan to have Lilly secretly lip sync her performance while Miley actually sang had backfired, but Miley was able to catch Lilly before she could run out. However, rather than chastise Lilly for her plan, Mr. Corelli had recognized Lilly's courage to risk looking foolish and focused everyone's attention on that. Miley would always be grateful to him for seeing the best in the beautiful blonde girl she had loved even then.

The click of the door opening startled the two girls, prompting them to fling back the covers and jump up. This in turn startled Cassie, who had just walked into the main part of the room. "Shit!" Cassie swore loudly as she jumped backwards. "Don't do that, girls! My brain's already been through enough tonight."

"Sorry," Lilly said, trying not to laugh without much success. Miley stood innocently with her hands covering the grin on her face.

Cassie dropped her travel purse on the dresser as she pulled off her shirt. "I need a shower," she said simply.

"Why don't you lie down, Ms. Hughes?" Lilly asked.

Cassie shook her head as she walked to the bathroom. "No time. If I went to sleep right now I wouldn't wake up for several hours." She paused, looking idly at the wall. "And I can't miss today." She went on into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

"Huh," Lilly said simply. "Wonder what that was all about." She jumped as Miley's fingers settled on her sides, holding her ribs without tickling them. Lilly leaned back as she felt Miley step up behind her, close enough for Lilly to feel the warmth radiating off her body.

"We'll find out, I guess," Miley said as they heard the shower start. "I hope we can go see Mr. Corelli before we have to leave."

Lilly turned to look at Miley. "How's that going to work? I mean, we're all supposed to fly back tonight. Are we just leaving him in the hospital?"

"I guess so, at least until he's better."

Lilly pondered that as she turned to look at Sarah, blissfully asleep and apparently without nightmares now. "At least Sarah had a better night."

Miley kissed the side of Lilly's neck as she mumbled, "She deserved one." Miley licked her lips, taking in the very familiar taste of Lilly's skin. "You taste good," she said as she nibbled at Lilly's right ear.

"And you're just on the appetizer," Lilly said as she playfully swatted at Miley's head. However, after a light smack, Lilly instead ran her head into Miley's hair until she was lightly holding her wife's head. "But we might not have time to make love this morning."

"We'll survive," Miley said as she shifted her grip from Lilly's ribs to an embrace with both arms wrapped around her best friend. "But it'll be tough."

"Flirt," Lilly said with a smile as she patted Miley's arms.

Just over an hour later, everyone had gotten up, showered, dressed and packed their things. The students were going to take their luggage downstairs and load their bags onto the tour bus, which would take them around the city today and then back to the airport. Cassie had been uncharacteristically quiet this morning, which Miley and Lilly took to indicate her concern for Mr. Corelli. She had also said nothing about the events of the previous evening, particularly the confrontation between Miley, Lilly, Dani and Janelle. As they loaded onto the two buses and prepared to say goodbye to the Crystal Gateway Marriott, Miley took a seat near the front of the bus and quickly tugged Lilly down beside her. Cassie was sitting directly in front of them, and her phone rang as she sat down.

Miley watched as the young teacher spoke on the phone, and when she smiled Miley smiled as well. "She's smilin'," Miley whispered to Lilly. "That's a good sign!"

Lilly caught Cassie's eye as she hung up the phone. "Things better?" Lilly asked.

"Yes," Cassie said, relief obvious on her face and in her voice. "They say they're going to let him rest today, then they'll probably try to take him off the ventilator tomorrow if he continues to improve." The sudden _plop_ of a body into the seat next to Cassie made everyone jump slightly.

"Hey," Sarah said to Cassie with a smile. "I just, um, wanted to say thanks for yesterday." As Cassie smiled back at Sarah, the curly-haired girl found herself blushing. "You know... for holding me. When I was really feeling bad."

Cassie took Sarah's hand, an action that was not lost on Miley and Lilly, who were still leaning over the seat. "You're welcome," Cassie said, her green eyes bright as she squeezed Sarah's hand. "I'll always be there if you need anyone to hold you again."

"Thanks," Sarah repeated. The bus lurched into motion, signaling Miley and Lilly to sit back in their seats. But there was still no sign of either Sarah or Cassie releasing the other's hand. Instead the two turned to look forward as the bus set off toward their first stop of the day.

Miley and Lilly looked knowingly at each other, each girl's eyes dancing. _They would be so good for each other_, Miley mouthed to Lilly, who nodded vigorously until she abruptly stopped. Miley gave her friend a look asking what was wrong, and Lilly mouthed, _But she's a teacher. And Sarah's a student._

In reply, Miley raised her hand and held up two wiggling fingers, indicating roughly the number of months left on the school calendar. Lilly smiled. She knew exactly what Miley meant by that gesture. And her girlfriend was right. Once school was over and Sarah had graduated, Lilly and Miley were going to play matchmaker.

The first stop on the day was at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. Everyone loved the guided tour through the facility, with the main attraction being the walk above the printing presses. The walls were floor-to-ceiling bulletproof glass, giving a spectacular view as millions of dollars were being printed in front of everyone's eyes. The teenagers took special delight in the sassy comments posted on the walls above the presses, most of which playfully taunted them about being so close to the money but still so far away.

Following their first stop, the students moved on to the White House. Security was stricter here than at any other place the seniors had gone, and Cassie had warned everyone beforehand. While most of the students were fascinated by the hour-long tour, Miley and Lilly found their enthusiasm to be dampened a bit by the fact that they had already been here a little over three years ago, when Hannah and Lola had met the President's daughter and the President himself. As they filed their way out of the White House, Lilly mumbled, "At least I didn't have to try to sing for his daughter this time," getting a laugh from Miley.

They took lunch at a nearby McDonald's, much to Miley's chagrin. Food from that particular chain tended to upset her stomach, so she limited herself to two apple pies and a small order of fries. Lilly also showed restraint, stopping after a value meal and two apple pies of her own. As she cleaned the table for Miley, Lilly leaned down and gave her wife a quick kiss on top of the head. "That'll keep you from getting sick," she said.

"Thanks," Miley said, smiling as she looked up at Lilly. Well, at Lilly's butt in her tight shorts as her wife walked to the trashcan. _Mine. All mine. And she is sooo hot._

Lilly dumped the trash and walked back to the table, skipping twice happily as she made her way back. "You ready?" she asked as she reached down for Miley's hand.

"Uh huh." Miley took Lilly's hand and felt herself pulled up from her seat. She put her arm around Lilly as they walked to the exit.

"Enjoy checking out my butt?" Lilly said pleasantly as they walked out the door.

Miley didn't miss a beat. "Oh yeah," she said. "All I can get."

"Good. Wore these shorts just for that very reason."

"I packed them for that very reason."

Lilly giggled. "Okay, you win."

Miley stopped as they reached the bus, moving to the side to let others pass by and get on the bus. "Lilly," she said as she looked into her lover's light blue eyes, "I won the night you kissed me."

"We both did," Lilly said with a warm smile.

Once everyone was on the bus, they left for their final stop on the trip. Miley noted that Cassie kept her head down as the buses pulled into Arlington National Cemetery. Sarah also noticed this, and she silently took Cassie's hand, causing the teacher to lift her head. After long seconds looking into Sarah's eyes, Cassie finally smiled.

"Oh..." Miley said as she looked out the window, further words refusing to come as she looked at the rows upon rows of white markers, stretching as far as she could see.

"Are those all..." Words also failed Lilly as she looked over Miley's shoulder.

"Yeah," Miley said, her gaze held by the fields overflowing with the graves of soldiers.

As the bus stopped to let the students disembark, Miley noted that everyone was much quieter than usual. The somber mood of this place was apparent to everyone. This was a place not to celebrate, but to remember. The type of monument no one _wants_ to see but that everyone _has_ to see, if only to remind them that the terrible cost of America's freedom is paid with the lives of her soldiers. Miley felt herself tear up as she turned around. They were at the base of the hill leading up to Arlington House, and every time she turned she could see more and more gravestones. "How many people are buried here?" she asked herself more than anyone else.

"Over three hundred thousand," Cassie said. Apparently she had heard Miley, or maybe she had just correctly interpreted her looking around. "From every war our country has even been involved in. Those are just the ones that are buried. There are more that have been cremated who are kept in the mausoleums."

"But I thought that this cemetery was created after the Civil War," said Ashley. "How could they bury soldiers from the wars before that? Did they dig them up and bring them here?"

"Yes," Cassie said. "That's exactly what they did, with permission from their families." She paused, then she said, "I expect everyone to conduct themselves with respect for the dead and for those here to remember them. There are several specific things to see, and there's no way we'll have time to see all of them. You can start at the Visitors' Center next to us if you want to look for a specific person or marker, or you can walk up to Arlington House and look at the museum inside it. Two things you should definitely see are the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Kennedy grave site with the Eternal Flame, where President Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy and two of their children are buried." She looked around at the students gathered around her in a semi-circle. "Amelia Earhart once wrote, 'Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.' Take a long look around this place. There's no shortage of courage here." She gave everyone a minute to think about that, then she said, "Any questions? If not, we'll be here three hours. Meet back here then."

Everyone began to wander off as people formed into small groups linked by the direction of their walking. Miley and Lilly began walking up the hill as they thought about where to go first.

"So where do you want to go first, Miles?" Lilly asked quietly.

"I don't know, Lilly. I'm just kinda creeped out by all these graves." Miley shivered. She wasn't trying to be disrespectful, but she was definitely uncomfortable. Being in a cemetery brought back memories that she wasn't entirely at peace with even now.

Lilly rubbed Miley's back. "This isn't Misty Hollow, sweetheart," she said tenderly.

"I know," Miley said as she put her arm around Lilly. Whenever Miley was sad, Lilly was always there to make her feel better. _Just like she said she would be_. "And our last visit to Momma's grave wasn't so bad, now that you're with me."

Lilly leaned against her true love, sharing all the warmth and comfort she could through their embrace. "I still wonder who had left those flowers at her grave." When they had gone back to the small mountain cemetery where Miley's mother was buried this past Christmas, they had been surprised to see not just a bouquet of brightly colored blue belles, but the remains of several other flowers around Brooke Stewart's grave. Miley had also been surprised to find the flowers. She and Lilly had arrived a day ahead of her father, and Jackson and his wife Kaela were still in Knoxville at the time. Whoever had left them remained a mystery the girls continued to wonder about.

"Miley, look," Lilly said, pointing discretely down the hill.

Miley turned to see Cassie and Sarah walking away from the Visitors' Center. Cassie was carrying a paper in one hand, studying it as they walked. "Wonder where they're goin'?" she asked.

Lilly smiled slightly. "Would it be intruding if we followed them?"

Miley smiled back, matching Lilly's intensity. "Not if we just happened to be goin' the same way."

The two of them followed at a distance as Cassie and Sarah made their way along the walkway and then stepped off to walk among the grave markers. After several minutes of walking away from the heart of the cemetery, Cassie and Sarah stopped in front of a marker. Cassie began crying, obvious to Lilly and Miley even at a distance, and Sarah held her as she continued to cry for long minutes.

"Let's leave them alone," Miley said, taking Lilly's elbow right as Sarah turned around and started walking toward them. "Shoot. Busted."

"Well, whatever it is, it's obviously painful for Ms. Hughes, Miley," Lilly said. "Maybe she needs her friends here, like Sarah is. Plus we've already been spotted, so we might as well stay now."

Miley considered her wife's logic and could find no fault with it. "Okay," she said.

In just a minute Sarah had approached close enough to clearly say, "Ms. Hughes said to come on over. It's okay." That said, Sarah turned around and walked quickly back to where Cassie was now kneeling on the ground. She was taking something out of her purse as the girls walked up to her.

"This is my brother," she said as she pulled a picture out of her purse, tears dripping off her cheeks. "My big brother. He always looked out for me my whole life. He was five when I was born, and even though I drove him crazy growing up, he always had time to look out for me." She placed the picture, one of herself and a taller man in a military uniform, on the ground against the white headstone. "He was killed in Iraq last year. They were evacuating a school where a bomb had been placed when--" She stopped abruptly as the sobs started again. Sarah knelt down beside her and put her arms around Cassie as she began speaking again. "He had gone back in to get two children that had gotten separated from the others. When he brought them back out, a sniper shot him in the head."

Miley and Lilly gasped. _No wonder she was acting so weird this morning_, Miley thought. She took Lilly's hand, which was right where she expected it to be, at her hip, just waiting to be grasped.

"We're so sorry, Ms. Hughes," Lilly said. "We had no idea. I mean, you never said anything about that or anything else about your family."

"Terrible things happen in wars," Sarah said softly. "On both sides. War is never the right way to--"

"He was trying to help children!" Cassie replied angrily, cutting Sarah off abruptly. "Whether this war is right or wrong, he was trying to save their lives, and someone shot him for that!" She turned to look back at the marker and slowly, hesitantly, extended her right hand to gently touch the cold stone with her fingertips. "I couldn't make it out here for the funeral. Mom and Dad came here, but I... I just couldn't. I just couldn't believe he was gone."

Silence held sway for a long minute before Sarah spoke. "I didn't mean to make this worse for you, Ms. Hughes, I swear. I believe that your brother was a good person, especially judging from the kind of person you are today, and my objections to fighting and killing should never make you think otherwise. I'm really sorry if I upset you by not being clear about that. I don't believe in wars, in killing, but what your brother was doing was a good thing. Whatever his reason for joining the military, whatever reason he was there, protecting children caught in the crossfire was a heroic, noble thing for him to do." She saw Cassie nod slowly. "And I know it has to hurt so bad that he's gone, but as long as you remember him and love him, he's never completely gone." She hugged Cassie tightly and whispered, "I'm sorry for making you mad. I really am."

Miley and Lilly stepped over and stood behind Cassie and Sarah. "I remember when my mom died, Ms. Hughes," Miley said tenderly. "I still miss her, even though it's been several years, but Lilly and I think about her every day. We know that she still loves us and that she's watching over us, and I bet that your brother's doing the same for you."

Lilly reached forward and rested her right hand on Cassie's right shoulder. "You're never alone, Ms. Hughes. Not as long as you have friends," she said.

"And people who care about you," Sarah added with a voice so soft that Miley could barely hear it.

After a few more minutes everyone's tears had stopped, and Cassie leaned forward and placed a light kiss on the headstone. "Goodbye Paul," she said. "I miss you, but I know you're in a better place, away from all the fighting and killing." She moved to stand, and Sarah stood with her. "I forgive you," she said to Sarah, drawing a smile from the curly-haired girl. "And I understand your beliefs about war and fighting. Those beliefs are part of what make you such a special person, Sarah, and you should never give them up." Cassie put her arm around Sarah as they turned around to look at Miley and Lilly. "Now you know a secret about me," she said to Miley and Lilly with a wink. She held her other arm out to hug the two of them, squeezing them both tightly as she said, "Thanks for being here for me."

"That's what friends are for," Lilly said.

Cassie looked at her watch. "Go take a look around for a bit, but be back at the Visitors' Center in an hour. I'm going to go check on Pete at the hospital and try to get something worked out for getting him back to Malibu when he's feeling better. I think there should be enough room in the cab for the three of you."

Apparently Cassie had already shared the knowledge of Mr. Corelli's condition with Sarah, because she didn't seem surprised by that statement. "Who's going to watch everyone while you're gone?" Miley asked.

"Ms. Kunkle," Cassie said simply.

Miley shivered, as did Lilly. "Oh yeah, we _definitely_ don't want to be stuck here with her in charge," Miley said quickly.

She and Lilly managed to see Arlington House, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Challenger Memorial before it was time to meet Cassie and Sarah. They rode to Georgetown Hospital squeezed into the back of a large cab, but Lilly got to ride on Miley's lap, so neither of them minded the close quarters.

Once they arrived at the hospital Cassie took them upstairs to the Intensive Care waiting room. The four of them walked over to the desk where an older man was sitting, reading a magazine. "Excuse me," Cassie said, "We're here to see Mr. Corelli. He was in ICU room 1 earlier this morning."

The man picked up the telephone and spoke with someone on the other end of the line. After a few seconds, he hung up. "Two of you can go on back for five minutes, then the other two can go back once the first two are back out here."

"We're really pressed for time," Cassie said. "We have to fly back to California in about an hour, and these students of his were really wanting to see him before we left."

"Sorry, rules are rules," the man replied. "Two at a time, please."

"Can we go back first?" Miley asked. "Please?"

Cassie smiled at the brunette. "Okay," she said finally.

Miley and Lilly hurried to the door to the Intensive Care Unit, where a nurse was waiting for them. They were silent as they walked back into the large, open space filled with different beeps and soft alarms. As they stopped at the first room, Miley took Lilly's hand as they went inside.

"Preliminary results on his sputum cultures look like it's a relatively common organism that caused his pneumonia, so the doctors took him off respiratory isolation just about an hour ago," the nurse said as the three of them walked into the room. "He's been waking up from time to time, his heart looks like it's doing fine and hopefully we can get that tube out tonight or tomorrow."

"He's definitely doing better, though?" Lilly asked.

"Oh yes," the nurse replied. "Much better. But he's going to have to follow up with his doctor back home for the underlying condition that set him up for the pneumonia."

"Underlying condition?" Miley asked, confused. "But he was just... fine..." She thought back. _He __had__ been out of school several times. And he was also losing weight. And coughing a lot._ She looked at Lilly. "When did he start losing weight, Lilly?"

Lilly lightly bit her lip as she thought. "Um, maybe a few months ago? Two? Three?" Her eyes grew wide as she realized why Miley was asking. "You think he knew something was wrong?"

"Maybe," Miley said as she looked back down at their teacher. As she did so, his eyes fluttered open. "Look, Lilly, he's awake!"

They stepped over. "Hey, Mr. Corelli!" Lilly said cheerfully. "They say you're getting better, and that soon you're going to be off that breathing machine." He nodded his head, trying to smile without success due to the endotracheal tube in his mouth. "Don't try to talk. Miley and I wanted to tell you that we love you and hope you get better really fast. Ms. Hughes and Sarah are waiting to come back and see you, so we're going to step out and let them come back, okay?"

Lilly moved to wash her hands as Miley stepped closer to Mr. Corelli. "You're gonna make it, Mr. Corelli. All of us are pulling for you. Be strong." She waved and went to wash her own hands. As she and Lilly left the ICU, they walked slowly to the waiting room. Cassie was standing by the door, and as she saw them approaching she motioned for Sarah to join her. "You two can head on in now," Miley said. "We'll meet you back here in fifteen minutes, okay?"

"Maybe twenty or so," Lilly clarified. "But we'll hurry."

"Where are you two going?" Sarah asked, confused.

"Um..." Lilly said, turning to look at Miley.

"We have to go to the bathroom!" Miley blurted out, a bit more loudly than she had anticipated. "C'mon, Lilly!" she said as she grabbed Lilly's hand and took off down the hallway. As they hurried to the elevator, Miley checked the hospital directory.

"Are we going to do what I think we're going to do?" Lilly asked her girlfriend.

"Yup," Miley replied simply.

"Good. That's one way we _can_ help him."

Fifteen minutes later Miley and Lilly met Cassie and Sarah back at the ICU waiting room. "You two get your bathroom business done?" Cassie asked with a smile.

"Yeah, and we were just in time!" Miley said.

"Those eggs we had for breakfast were a bit too much, let me tell ya!" Lilly added, drawing looks from several people sitting in the waiting room. "Okay, I think we can go now," she said with a much softer voice as she withdrew slightly from the crowd in the room to hide behind Miley.

"Okay," Cassie said simply. She checked her watch. "They should be gathering everyone up at Arlington now. We'll head on to the airport and meet them at the chartered flights hangar."

As the four of them rode in another cab back to the airport, Lilly once again sat on Miley's lap. They took a final look at the different monuments as they crossed the bridge leading back to Arlington and the airport. "I had a good time here, Miley," Lilly said sincerely.

"So did I, Lil. Now we just need for Mr. Corelli to get better and get back home."

"How is he going to get back home, Cass-- I mean, Ms. Hughes?" Sarah said, quick to cover her slip in using Cassie's first name. Cassie smiled, as did Miley and Lilly.

"I'm getting him a plane ticket to fly back home, Sarah," Cassie said. "Well, I will when he's able to leave the hospital. I think he was happy to see all of us today."

"Yeah," Lilly and Miley both said at once. Lilly's curiosity finally got the better of her, and she asked, "The nurse said he had some condition that led to him getting the pneumonia. Do you know what she was talking about, Ms. Hughes?"

Cassie looked at Lilly sternly, making the blonde wish she hadn't said anything. "I think that would be up to Mr. Corelli to discuss with you _when_ and _if_ he feels up to doing so."

"Yes ma'am," Lilly said meekly, turning to look down into Miley's eyes. She could see Miley thinking, probably trying to keep from saying anything to their teacher for chastising Lilly so. "Sorry. That was out of line on my part." She hoped Miley would let it go, because she really had brought up something that was none of their business.

Cassie turned to Sarah. "I expect Lilly's question to not leave this cab. Sarah?" Sarah nodded quickly. Cassie turned her head. "Miley?" Miley also nodded, biting her tongue to keep from saying anything back to Cassie. It was turning out to be harder than she had expected, and Cassie finally noticed that. "Lilly, I'm sorry if I was short with you, but that's really none of your business."

"I know," Lilly said. "I'm really sorry again." She looked down and saw that the anger had gone out of Miley's eyes. That was good, because it didn't belong there. Not as far as Lilly was concerned.

They arrived at the airport before the buses did, so they made their way to the charter flight terminal and started the check-in process. When the two buses finally pulled up to the terminal, the four of them were waiting to help unload their bags and transfer them to the jet waiting to fly them back to California. The luggage transfer went smoothly, and within an hour the students were airborne, on their way back to Malibu.

"It's gonna be really late when we get back," Lilly said as she and Miley snuggled up under a blanket.

"Yeah, six hour flight counting the time change," Miley said, peering out the window as they leveled off. "But I'm so looking forward to sleeping in our bed tonight."

"Oh, me too," Lilly added longingly. "We got to see some fun stuff on this trip, but I miss our families."

"Me too," Miley echoed as she thought about the two months that still lay ahead of them until graduation.

"Don't worry about it, Miles," Lilly said as she took Miley's hand underneath the blanket.

"Worry about what?" Miley said, surprised as she turned her head to look into Lilly's bright blue eyes.

"About whatever it was that was bothering you."

"How did--" Miley stopped and smiled. "Sorry. Dumb question."

"It's going to be okay," Lilly said. "He's going to get better."

"I hope so. He's been so good to us for these last four years."

"He's getting better already. And now he won't have to worry about any hospital bills. That's the _last_ thing he needs to worry about, I mean."

"Yeah. I'm glad we can help him that way, at least." Miley smiled as she felt Lilly's other arm snake behind her back. "Love you."

"Love you too, girlfriend. Now stop talking so I can take a nap."

Miley laughed as Lilly rested her head on Miley's right shoulder.

"And try not to move too much, either. It jostles my head."

"Yes ma'am."

**Author's Afterword:** And this brings a close to the second arc of our story. Now we enter the final third, which will take us to the milestone of high school graduation. There are still a few surprises in the remaining chapters of our story, so don't think all the excitement is over. I'm now fairly sure of how Mr. Corelli is going to do, but I'm not giving any hints yet. See you soon!

-- Jo --


	14. Chapter 14: Pink Skies & Chocolate Malts

**Author's Note:** Okay, I know the new single has been popping up everywhere, but I got the new album _Breakout_ on the 22nd for one of my daughters (her 8th birthday—yay!) and that song is just too cute, particularly the ending. When I read the lyric sheet, I was especially impressed with the phrasing of her likes on "7 Things" and knew I just had to include it as the intro for this chapter. For those of you unfamiliar with the intro music from the previous chapter, go find Kerli's album _Love Is Dead_. Despite the name, it's a very upbeat album. Almost every song has a different sound, so there should be something on it for almost everyone to enjoy. One of her official videos is up on YouTube as well if you want some visual component to your music as well.

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 14: Pink Skies and Chocolate Malts

_The seven things I like about you:_

_Your hair, your eyes, your old Levi's_

_When we kiss I'm hypnotized_

_You make me laugh, you make me cry_

_But I guess that's both I'll have to buy_

_Your hand in mine_

_When we're intertwined everything's alright_

_I want to be with the one I know_

_And the seventh thing I like the most that you do_

_You make me love you (you do)_

--Miley Cyrus; "7 Things"

As Miley opened the door to the bedroom she and Lilly shared, she could clearly hear her wife singing away in the shower roughly in tune with Hannah's song "7 Things" from her new album. The song had become a huge hit already, striking a chord with tens of thousands of teenagers around the world. Miley grinned as she tossed the two clean bright teal towels onto the bed and lifted the one-size-too-large Lolitas Locas t-shirt over her head, tossing it into the corner of their room. She then picked up the towels, still warm from the dryer, and carried them into the bathroom, being careful not to disturb Lilly's happy singing as she kept tune with the last chorus of the song being played by their waterproof CD player. As Lilly finished singing, Miley slid the shower curtain forward just enough to step into the warm steam behind the young woman she loved more than life itself. "I think it's funny how much you love that song," Miley said as she hugged Lilly from behind, holding her now-slippery chest tightly.

"Why?" asked Lilly. "It's cute as it could be!"

"Yeah," Miley said, "but it starts out pretty darn negative. I just-- I don't know, I just wouldn't want anybody to get the wrong idea about how I feel about you."

Lilly turned around, her face serious but her body language the complete opposite. "And how exactly do you feel about me, Mrs. Truscott?" Without giving Miley a chance to answer, Lilly continued, "Since you've married me, taken my name, expressed your undying love for me as well your _very_ strong desire to bear my child, dedicated I don't know how many beautiful songs to me as a pledge of your devotion, and made the sweetest, most tender love to me that I could ever ask for night after amazing night..."

Miley couldn't help but grin like a schoolgirl—which she still was for a few more weeks—at Lilly's ongoing recitation of how many different ways Miley did indeed declare her feelings for Lilly in every walk of life. "Okay, okay," she said, taking advantage of Lilly's momentary pause for breath. "But I wasn't talking about you."

Lilly's eyes grew huge as she said, "You mean you were singing about loving somebody else?" After holding that expression for exactly two-point-three seconds, Lilly started laughing wildly. "Oh Miles," she gasped, "you should see the look on your face!"

"Meanie," Miley said as she playfully poked Lilly's sternum with her index finger. "You knew darn well exactly what I was sayin'."

Lilly leaned forward and kissed Miley on the lips, lingering for several seconds as their arms wrapped around each other, pulling them tightly against each other. "Yes," Lilly said as their lips separated by millimeters, still close enough that Miley could feel the gentle pressure of her wife's speech against her lips. "I knew exactly what you meant. But I just couldn't resist."

Miley's hands drifted down Lilly's back, finally gripping her butt lightly. "Just like you can't resist me?" she said as she gave Lilly another kiss.

"Mmhmm," Lilly mumbled as she pulled Miley deeper into the kiss, upping the intensity significantly as her own hands drifted forward onto her lover's chest. "Exactly like I can't resist you."

_Seven months earlier, a rainstorm that had been threatening all day finally unleashed its watery assault on Malibu. "Lilly, did you roll up the windows on Stella?" Miley yelled up the stairs from the kitchen._

"_No! I thought you were gonna do it!" Lilly yelled back downstairs._

_Miley looked outside as the rain picked up intensity. She saw their Roadster, still parked in the driveway and outside the carport from where they had washed it earlier that day. "Shoot!" she yelled as she bolted out the kitchen door. The drops of rain slapped against her head and back as she ran to the glossy black car, dropping into the seat as she hurriedly tapped in the code to start the car. She rolled the windows up before the rain stepped up its intensity, but then she had to run back inside. By the time she made it back into the house, she was thoroughly drenched and quite angry at her wife._

"_I thought you said you were rolling up the windows!" Lilly said as she opened the door for Miley to step back inside._

"_Uh, NO!" Miley said heatedly in response as she wrung water out of her shirt. "I asked you to do it, because I was loading the dishwasher!"_

"_But I told you I was going upstairs to start the laundry!" Lilly said, her own temper starting to flare at Miley's tone of voice. _

_Both girls had failed to remember that they were due to start their periods the next day. That unfortunate timing made things much more volatile than their typical disagreements, and the mercifully brief exchange had reduced both girls to tears for several minutes. Lilly had run outside to sit on the beach, rain or not, to clear her head. Miley had taken a kitchen towel and rubbed her hair with it in a weak attempt to dry it, then gone to sit at the piano, staring out the door to look at her best friend as she sat on the sand in the pouring rain. After a minute or two, Miley had grabbed a piece of paper and started scribbling down a list of the things that Lilly did that irritated her, stopping after seven fairly minor things such as the way she arranged her hair brush near the sink, the way she forgot to close the cap on the toothpaste and several other piddling quirks. _

_As Miley looked at the paper trying to think of more of Lilly's qualities that aggravated her, she looked back out onto the beach and could see—even at the distance between the two of them and with Lilly's back turned toward her—that Lilly was crying. Miley looked down at the legal pad and noted that the soft white paper had been dotted with her own tears as she had written, and she numbly began a new column to the right of her original list. In the new column she began writing the qualities of Lilly that she loved. _

_As she flipped the second sheet of paper to begin writing on the third page of her second column, Miley realized how silly their argument truly had been compared to the deep love they would always carry for each other. She put the legal pad down and opened the back door to step outside into the rain once again. _

_As she walked barefoot down to the beach, Miley could hear Lilly's sobs as she drew close to her best friend. Even being nearly silent, Miley knew that Lilly would feel her approaching, and as she drew near she could see Lilly wipe her eyes with her wrists, trying to stem the flow of tears. "I'm sorry," Miley said as she sat down beside Lilly on the sand._

"_I'm sorry, too," Lilly replied, still trying to stop the tears. "I should have rolled up the windows."_

"_I coulda done it myself," Miley said, feeling her own tears accumulate at the corners of her eyes again. "And I sure shouldn't have talked that way to you." She put her arm around Lilly and shivered as she felt the spark between the two of them at even that simple contact._

"_I shouldn't have said some of the things I did back to you, Miles. I love you too much to talk to you like that."_

_Miley kissed Lilly on her temple. "Same here. Can you forgive me?"_

"_Already forgiven," Lilly said as she turned her head to kiss Miley's left cheek. "Same for me?"_

"_Of course." Miley stood and held out her hand for Lilly. "Want to go in and get out of the rain?"_

"_Yeah, why not. Not like we can get much wetter now."_

_Miley lifted her left eyebrow as she gave Lilly a smoldering look. "Oh, I think we can get much wetter. MUCH wetter."_

_Lilly took Miley's hand, her heart's rate stepping up a few notches. "Well then, we need to find out."_

_After a tender session of make-up lovemaking, two mugs of hot chocolate and an hour of America's Next Top Model reruns, Miley was stretched out on her stomach across the couch, with Lilly taking her turn rubbing Miley's back. "Need to run to the bathroom," Lilly said as she stood up. After a quick trip to and from the restroom, the legal pad on top of the piano caught her eye as she walked back across the living room. "What's this, Miles?" she asked as she picked up the pad and began looking at the columns._

"_Oh, I was just being grouchy," Miley said as she sheepishly remembered the petty column of things she had written about things she disliked about her best friend._

"_Aw, but then you started being sweet!" Lilly said as she brought the pad over to the couch with her. She read for several seconds, flipping to the second and then the third page. "You really like all those things about me?"_

"_Lilly, I just stopped there because I realized how dumb we were being by us fighting. We're supposed to start tomorrow, remember?"_

_Lilly smacked herself in the forehead with the legal pad. "Ugh, I forgot!" she said with an exasperated tone._

"_You always forget," Miley said with a smile as she turned her head to look back and up at Lilly._

"_Because you always remember for me," Lilly said with a slight smile of her own. "Thanks."_

"_You're welcome." Miley put her head back down on the couch, not budging until she heard Lilly until she heard Lilly's voice again._

"_You should turn this into a song, Miles."_

"_What?"_

"_I said, you should turn this into a song. You could call it, 'The Seven Things I Hate About You and the Seventy Things I Love'." Lilly crunched into an apple; apparently she had made a surreptitious stop in the kitchen on the way back from the bathroom._

"_Gimme," Miley said with a smile as she rolled over, wincing slightly at the discomfort still in her pelvis. Lilly obligingly held the apple in front of Miley's mouth as she sat up and gingerly took a bite. "Ufm, tha's goodth," she said around the bite of apple._

"_Don't talk with your mouth full," Lilly said softly. "Unless it's you telling me how much you love me when you're-- HEY! Who said you could sneak a second bite of my apple?"_

_Miley crunched happily as she chewed the larger bite of the savory apple. Once she swallowed, she said, "You will. Right now."_

_Lilly's eyes twinkled as she looked into Miley's matching pair of sapphire blue. "Okay," she said pleasantly. "But what about the song?" She waved the legal pad at her wife menacingly._

"_Title's too long," Miley said as she took the pad from Lilly's hand. "Maybe we could shorten it down."_

_After some thinking and some advice from Robbie Ray over the next two weeks, Miley had rewritten the song several times, finally balancing the likes and dislikes with seven points for each side and giving it a lighter, funnier tone that made Lilly laugh out loud when she heard Miley sing a rough version of it for the first time. Together she and Lilly sat down and went over several of their old relationships with boys to find some of the complaints they had shared, then Miley had slowly replaced her original dislikes with a combination of the negatives she and Lilly had come up with regarding former boyfriends. The likes, however, stayed the same. Eventually they had a finished product, ready to be recorded when Miley went into the studio later that week._

"_Oh honey, that's great!" Lilly had said when Miley had sung it to her in their bedroom right before bed. "You've got to put that on the new CD." Lilly knew that Miley was still hesitant to make the song public; even after two weeks Miley remained sad that she had allowed herself to get so angry during their argument._

"_Even though it sounds like I'm angry at you?" Miley asked. "I don't like even thinking about being upset with you."_

"_But Miley, it's not human for two people who live together to not butt heads every now and then, even if they ARE crazy about each other. It's just the way we are. I also think that this might finally give you the chance to let go of still feeling guilty about that fight." Lilly lightly smacked Miley on the butt as she slid into their bed. "Plus I know that you like many more things about me than you dislike."_

_Miley slid into bed beside her wife, their nude bodies intertwining under the covers as they felt the tension of the day begin to seep out of their bodies. "Many, many more things," she said as Lilly turned off their lamp. "And now I'm gonna give you another one to add to your good list."_

_Lilly giggled as she felt Miley's hands begin to roam. "Good thing you left this one out of the song, or there'd be a parental advisory on Hannah's new CD," she said as she closed her eyes and let her Miley's hands work their sensual magic._

Lilly's fond memories of the song's origins fell away as she felt Miley's fingers slip between her legs; she gladly spread them apart to make her wife's entry easier. Lilly gasped as Miley skipped any teasing and instead slid her middle finger deeply in, sending fiery surges straight up into Lilly's brain with each loving flick and caress. Lilly felt herself grip Miley's shoulders tightly as her wife rapidly brought her to a shuddering orgasm within minutes. "Oh sweetie, yes," she gasped as the waves of delight surged along her body.

"I love you so much, Lilly," Miley said tenderly as she held Lilly for another minute, allowing her lover to gently come down from the natural high of her orgasm. As Lilly's eyes slowly opened, revealing a hue of blue nearly turquoise from her exhilaration, Miley grinned at the effect her touches still had on her best, dearest friend.

"You know just how to touch me, Miley," Lilly said, her breathing still slightly ragged. "Heck, you always have, even from our very first time. You've just gotten better and better with time."

Miley gave Lilly a kiss, taking Lilly's hand when she felt it start to drift down below. "Don't think we've got enough time for my turn this morning, hon. It's okay."

"Aw," Lilly said with her cute fake pout. "But I was really wanting to!"

"After school, hon, okay?"

The smile reappeared on Lilly's face. "Okay," she said happily. She handed Miley her shampoo and began washing her own hair as Miley did the same. "So you got any ideas for the magazine cover?"

Miley had indeed been thinking about the photo shoot for _Rolling Stone_ tomorrow. "I'd really like one with us kissing," she said as she scrubbed the sweet-smelling shampoo into her hair.

"Oooh, that'd be nice," Lilly agreed. "I was kinda thinking of them taking one of us stretched out on a couch, with me holding you like we do when we watch movies."

There was no reply for a minute as Miley rinsed her hair. When the shampoo was washed away, she stood and leaned against the shower wall to let Lilly take her place under the shower's spray. "That's a nice idea too. I wonder if they're gonna want us to bring our own outfits or if they have somethin' they're gonna want us to wear?"

Lilly continued to talk while washing her hair, just talking louder to compensate for being bent over with the water running down her head and face. "I bet they'll have a bunch of clothes for us to try. But you can bet your sweet butt that I'm not getting into anything too slutty, even for the cover of their magazine."

Miley smiled as she began to work her conditioner into her hair. "Yeah, I hear you there, girlfriend. I mean, I know it's the 'Hot List' and all, but we can be hot and still not look like tramps."

"Exactly," Lilly said, straightening back up now that her hair had been rinsed. Miley handed her the conditioner she preferred, making Lilly smile as she opened her eyes. "We have standards to uphold. Even though we're eighteen now, Hannah and Lola still have lots of younger fans, and we have to make sure we remember them as well."

"So you think us kissing might be too much?"

"Maybe. I'm not sure, really." Now Lilly stepped to the side to let Miley back under the water's spray. "I mean, kids really shouldn't be reading _Rolling Stone_, but they'll probably see the cover somewhere. I'm not afraid to be seen kissing you, Miles, and I think you already know that--"

"Oh yeah!" Miley said, her voice muffled slightly by the water.

"--but we don't want to encourage them to try and grow up too fast. Or..." Lilly's voice trailed off.

Miley stood, her hair now rinsed free of the conditioner as well. She took in the puzzled look on her wife's face. "Lilly, we've never done anything like that. We haven't shied away from being in love with each other, but I think we've done a pretty dang good job of not playing up the sexual part of our relationship."

"Oh, I agree totally, Miles. Our relationship has always been built off our love and friendship, and that's what we've always tried to get across. The sex is part of it, but a more mature part. A private part."

Miley ran her fingertips down Lilly's back as Lilly now rinsed her hair again. "It's a really nice part, too," she purred. She could see the shiver run up Lilly's spine as the combination of her touch and her sultry voice.

"Don't you start something you're not gonna let me finish, Miley Truscott," Lilly said in a chastising manner, making Miley laugh deeply as she removed her sneaky hand from Lilly's back.

Soon they were on their way to school. After parking their car in their assigned parking place, Miley and Lilly hurried into the school, narrowly beating the rain that began to fall shortly after they were inside. As they retrieved their books from the locker they shared, they saw Cassie Hughes walking through the hall. The lingering gazes of several boys followed her as she made her way down the hall, her soft tan leather skirt going nicely with her off-white blouse and short red hair. "Morning ladies," Cassie said to Miley and Lilly with a smile as she passed by, her bare legs commanding looks ranging from love to lust.

"Morning Ms. Hughes," Miley and Lilly said as one, returning her smile. They were now completely convinced that their secret was safe with Cassie. Since they had returned from the senior trip, she had been very friendly to the two of them as well as to Sarah. Not a word had been mentioned to either of them about the interview Cassie had sat in on.

As Cassie continued on down the hall, Lilly said, "We have got to get her together with Sarah as soon as school is out."

Miley nodded her assent. "Yeah, she's just beautiful. Plus she's such a sweet person."

"Wow, Ms. Hughes is rockin' it today, huh?" said Ashley as she and Oliver came up behind Lilly and Miley. "That skirt is _too_ hot!"

Oliver opened the locker next to Miley and Lilly, smacking it twice to make it pop open. "Yeah, ever since the senior trip she's really been dressing to break hearts. Did you two tell her to start dressing that way to find her a boyfriend or something?"

Miley turned around to face Oliver and said, "Uh, _no_," but as she playfully swatted at his arm, she was blocked by Ashley.

"My job," Ashley said sweetly as she smiled at Miley. She then smacked Oliver in the arm exactly where Miley had been aiming.

"OW!" Oliver said, rubbing his arm.

"Thanks," Miley said, smiling back at Ashley.

"Welcome," Ashley replied, her own smile just as cheery.

"No, she just started dressing up on her own," Lilly said, trying not to laugh at Oliver. "Miley and I think--" She stopped abruptly, not wanting to reveal too much too soon.

"We think she looks great!" Miley added hastily, hoping Oliver wouldn't catch on, but she knew that sooner or later he'd figure it out. Probably sooner, with his network of contacts.

"Yeah, she sure does," Oliver idly said in agreement. "How's Sarah?"

As if on cue, Sarah entered the hall, stopping at her locker across the hall from where the four of them stood. Today her smile was back, in start contrast to the grim appearance she had worn the last four days. As she retrieved her books from her locker, she turned and saw the four of them. She waved and made her way across the rapidly filling hallway. "Hey, everyone," she said pleasantly.

"Are things goin' better at home?" Miley asked, hoping fervently that things indeed were. True to her word, Sarah had told her parents she was gay when she had returned from the senior trip. As she had expected, the results were explosive. However, she had refused to get into any arguments with her parents, particularly her father. She had simply gone about things at home as if nothing had changed. Sarah's friends knew that her willpower and optimism were both vast, and by carrying on as if nothing had changed, she hoped to get her parents to see that in fact nothing _had_ changed. Sarah was the same Sarah she always had been, with greater self-awareness being the sole change inside the young woman. It was truly a brilliant strategy, and only someone with Sarah's patience, compassion and forgiveness could have accomplished it.

At Miley's question, Sarah actually smiled more broadly. "Mom told me last night that no matter who I was attracted to, I'd always be her daughter and she'd always love me."

"Oh Sarah, that is so terrific!" Lilly said happily. "How about your dad?" she asked, her face growing more serious.

"Well, he still wouldn't talk to me last night, but this morning he told me to have a good day at school when I left. Progress."

"I bet this last week has sucked so bad for you," Ashley said softly, smiling at Sarah. She knew something about butting heads with a parent as well, and she felt for Sarah. However, she was rather surprised by Sarah's reply.

"Actually, it's been the best week I've had in months!" Sarah said, her voice actually perky. "I'm not confused about things anymore, I'm not hiding things anymore, and my little brother has left me alone. Having Mom tell me that last night really did make me feel better, though."

"That's great, Sarah," Miley said, proud of her classmate's resilience. She and Lilly had been very fortunate to have the acceptance they received when they had come out to their parents, and Sarah's week had only reminded them of their good fortune. Miley turned to Lilly and saw the slight grin on her wife's face. "So now we just need to find you a girlfriend who'll treat you right," she said to Sarah, giving her a sly grin.

"Miley, I already told you two, I'm concentrating on keeping my grades up until the end of the year. Dating can wait until I'm ready."

"The end of the year, huh?" Miley said. "Got someone special in mind for after graduation?"

Sarah pointed her index finger at Miley as she lightly said, "None of your business." The ringing of the bell stirred everyone into action as they immediately scrambled to their classes, hoping to beat the tardy bell that would be soon following.

The brain drain of Economics finally gave way to lunch, where Miley and Lilly caught up with Oliver and Ashley. As they took their seats at their usual spot in the middle of the cafeteria, everyone seemed to be in great moods today.

"Wow, Ashley, what's going on?" Lilly asked immediately as she tore into her apple.

"What do you mean, Lilly?" Ashley said, blushing slightly.

"I mean that your grin hasn't quit all day. Spill!"

Ashley looked at Oliver and a just perceptible nod passed between them. She turned back to Lilly and whispered, "Oliver's taking me to the Malibu Beach Inn for the weekend after graduation. I think he's gonna propose to me!"

Lilly's eyes grew as large as saucers, and she cupped her hand over her mouth to block a scream of happiness. Before Miley could say anything, Lilly stood and dragged her wife out of her chair and led her to the bathroom.

"What? What?" Miley said repeatedly, positively buzzing with anticipation as they went into the bathroom.

Lilly knelt down to check for feet in the stalls; finding them empty, she stood and said, "Oliver's taking Ashley to the Malibu Inn after graduation for the whole weekend! She thinks he's gonna propose to her!"

Miley covered her own mouth in a motion identical to that of Lilly's just moments ago as she also hopped up and down in place. "Really?" she said as she moved her hands apart slightly. "But Oliver told us that he didn't think that they'd get married for at least a year or two!"

"I know, but he didn't say anything about proposing to her, remember? I asked him about _that_ and he dodged the question!"

"Oh yeah, he did!" Miley thought about that for a minute. "You know, this is Oliver we're talking about. He's always coming up with goofy ideas, too. Maybe he's got some plan to open his own business doing people's laundry at the beach or something."

Lilly laughed out loud, then she became serious. "For his sake, I hope not. Ashley'd be really ticked off. I mean, they've gone out for almost two years now. Ash is eighteen and Oliver turns eighteen in a few months. Maybe it's time Oliver made some solid plans for the future. That never has been his strong suit, you know."

"True," Miley said as she nodded thoughtfully. "But not everybody is ready to get married when they're teenagers. Jackson and Kaela were twenty when they got married, and Daddy was really worried that they were getting married too young."

"We got married a lot younger than they did, though, Miles. And we've done really well."

"Lilly, that was us. Your mom told me once that she thought of us as married a good year before our wedding. She said we were just meant to be together."

Lilly hugged Miley firmly. "She was right. And I see what you're saying about Oliver and Ashley. You think that maybe she's got her hopes up too high?"

Miley frowned as she thought, but she didn't release Lilly from her embrace as she pondered. Her thoughts often came more easily with her inspiration in her arms. "Could be," she said, "but I don't think so. Ashley's had to deal with a nasty divorce and a mother who's just now treating Oliver nicely. I think she might need some solid reassurance of their future together. I just hope Oliver's okay with that."

The sounds of shouting and screaming back out in the cafeteria sent a surge of adrenaline through both young women's bodies. They hurried out of the bathroom in time to see Janelle Gertz in a fight with two other classmates of theirs. Janelle could probably have handled either one of the two girls, but the two of them together proved to be too potent for her. By the time the teachers had broken up the scuffle, Janelle had suffered a black eye and a nasty cut on the left side of her face.

"Payback's a bitch," Oliver said without a hint of remorse at the outcome of the fight as Miley and Lilly took their seats at the table.

"What is that, the second fight she's been in since we got back?" Miley asked.

"Third," Ashley said. "But the second at school. She just came back from suspension yesterday. And she's gotten hammered in all three."

"Well, this'll hopefully be the last one," Oliver said. "They should either just suspend her the rest of the year or move her to another school. Too many girls here that hate her. Well, and boys too."

The rest of school was relatively boring, and before long everyone was on their way home. Oliver and Ashley agreed to meet Miley and Lilly at Rico's later that evening, since he stayed open later on Friday and Saturday nights now. Once they got home, Miley and Lilly went to work on the laundry, as they had let it pile up during the week to concentrate on cleaning the house. Robbie Ray was slowly letting them take more responsibility for the day-to-day running of the house, but them being gone a week had put things slightly behind. Miley's father had also let things slip a bit while his daughter and daughter-in-law had been gone, even though he vigorously denied it.

As Miley and Lilly pulled shirts and shorts on over their bikinis, bright blue for Miley and vivid orange for Lilly, Miley said, "I hope things go well for them."

Lilly knew exactly to whom her wife referred. "I hope so too. They're just so sweet when they're together." She paused as she picked up her keys and small wallet. "I worry about him being a police officer," she said quietly.

"So do I, Lilly, but you know that's what he wants to do," Miley said as she turned off the light to their room. "At least he's going to get his degree first."

As they walked down the steps and out the front door, they fell into step with each other, hands unconsciously finding each other to entangle themselves together. "Oliver's going to do just fine at UCLA, Miley. And Ashley will too."

"Yeah, I think so. Well, Ashley probably doesn't need to get a degree. Or a job. But it says something that she wants to do it for herself."

"Yeah, it's a lot more like how she used to be when she was a lot younger. She used to tell everybody she was going to be an astronaut." Lilly laughed as she remembered Ashley in third grade, pigtails vividly jutting out to the sides more often than not.

As Lilly told Miley more about Ashley as a youngster, Miley pulled Lilly closer so she could place a quick kiss on her head as they walked to Rico's Surf Shop. When Lilly paused for a breath as they neared their destination, Miley said, "I love this."

"What, me telling you embarrassing stories about me and my friends when we were kids?" Lilly asked with a snicker.

"That too, but I was talking about this." Miley stopped and motioned up to the sky. The sun was slowly sinking to the horizon, and pink streaks were beginning to color the sky. "The sunset, the warmth, the ocean... and being with you." She leaned in to meet Lilly for a much deeper kiss, drawing a few whistles from some of the surfer boys gathered across from Rico's. Before Miley knew it she found Lilly's hands gripping her butt tightly, pulling them into heated contact, and her own hands spaced one between Lilly's shoulders and one on the small of her back. "I love you so much, Lilly Truscott. Sometimes I wish we could just stop time and keep things right like this forever."

Lilly smiled as she brushed a now-sweaty lock of hair off her forehead. "But we can't, Miles. Instead we have to enjoy each minute we have together. Plus stopping time right here wouldn't be very fair to our children, would it?"

"Spoilsport," Miley said as she seized one last kiss.

"Realist," Lilly replied with a smile. "Some of the time, anyway."

"Ah, I love you anyway," Miley said with a grin as they resumed their walk to Rico's. Within a minute they were at the casual surf shop. Oliver and Ashley had already claimed a table and were working on two frosty drinks as Miley and Lilly arrived. "Hey guys," Miley said as she pulled out Lilly's seat for her, helping her scoot slightly forward as she sat.

"Hey," Ashley replied as Oliver finished a long drink of what appeared to be a smoothie of some sort. "He would say hi, but he's too busy sucking down his shake."

"Men, what can you do about 'em?" Miley said with a smile and a shrug.

"You two don't have to worry about that," Ashley replied, pointing at the two of them with her straw as she pulled it out and licked the bottom of it.

"True," Miley said. "Whatcha want, girlfriend?" she asked Lilly.

Lilly thought for a minute, then she said, "Chocolate malt. Big one."

"Got it. Be right back, lover," Miley said, giving Lilly a quick kiss on top of her blonde head.

Lilly practically swooned as Miley kissed her and then walked over to the bar, where Rico was working today. "Man, I love her so much," she said, as much to herself as to Ashley or Oliver.

"Yeah, we kinda figured that one out," Oliver said playfully.

Lilly smiled as she rested her head in her hand and propped her arm on top of their table. "Don't start, Oken, or I'll tell your girlfriend about the time you were five and got into my closet and--"

"Okay!" Oliver said quickly. "Point taken. Let's just forget that one, shall we?"

"Done," Lilly said breezily as she went back to watching Miley argue with Rico about something. Miley's long, cascading hair bounced with a life of its own as the brunette shook her head back and forth, and the way her calves flexed as she shifted back and forth drew Lilly's gaze lower. Lilly didn't even know she had sighed until she heard Ashley ask...

"Have you two had sex yet today?"

Lilly coughed twice as she got choked trying to swallow. Finally she turned to Ashley and croaked, "What did you say?"

With only the hint of a smile, Ashley said, "I said, have you two had sex today yet? You normally only have those sad, longing looks at Miley when you two haven't had sex all day."

Lilly could feel her face flush as she managed to get the coughing under control. "Well, we kinda fooled around in the shower this morning, but it was just Miley doing the work. I didn't get to taste her yet."

"OKAY!" Oliver said loudly. "Getting firmly into the TMI range here! Man! I love you and Miley, but I don't need to hear details on your sex lives!"

Ashley glanced over at her boyfriend. "Oliver?"

"Yeah Ash?"

"You think it's hot too, so don't try to deny it."

Lilly covered her mouth to hide her giggling as Miley thankfully returned to the table. "What's up?" Miley asked as she set Lilly's drink in front of her girlfriend.

"Oh, Lilly was just giving us the details on your little shower fun this morning," Ashley said cheerily.

Knowing that Lilly was almost certainly doing no such thing, Miley decided to play along and give Ashley a taste of her own teasing. "Yeah, we ran out of time, actually. I had just gotten Lilly to cum when we had to stop and leave for school."

Now it was Ashley's turn to choke on her drink. She had most definitely _not _been expecting Miley to take it a step further.

Lilly knew to seize an opportunity when it presented itself. She turned to Miley as she put the straw to her lips and said with her sultry voice, "I am _so_ gonna eat you up tonight, Miles. All I could think about today is the way you taste when you cum, and it's making me crazy." She took a long drink of her malt, trying her best not to crack up and ruin the teasing. However, it turned out to be futile when Miley herself sputtered and then started laughing. Miley's laughing rapidly led to everyone at the table laughing uncontrollably, and only after nearly a minute could a semblance of control reappear.

"Serves me right for trying to embarrass the two of you," Ashley said, tears running down her flushed cheeks from her laughing.

"Yeah, you should know better by now," Lilly agreed amiably as she went back to work on her malt. She took another look up at the pink and silver sky. It truly was a breathtaking sight, but it fell far short of the beauty sitting beside her, as far as Lilly was concerned.

**Author's Afterword:** Next chapter brings us the photo shoot, as well as a step closer to graduation. Right now I'm estimating probably another five or six chapters in this story, but that's open to change depending on how things go. We'll also get an update on Mr. Corelli's condition, and some other characters will return for the last legs of our story. As for Miley's shirt at the start of this chapter, the Lolitas Locas is a women's roller derby team in Knoxville that Miley and Lilly enjoy cheering for when they're in town on a derby weekend. My girls and I enjoy watching and cheering for them as well. Go Hard Knox Girls! As always, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! See you soon.

-- Jo --


	15. Chapter 15: Pretty As a Picture

**Author's Note:** I hope everyone is enjoying the slightly faster pace of updates. I'm trying hard to keep up the pace, particularly with school starting back up for my girls last week, so bear with me, please. Thanks to everyone for their nice reviews, with particular mention to **SweetNiblets** for the very nice PM (you share a name with one of my daughters, by the way!), **Icerose92**, **storyreader51** (the fact that you don't normally comment to authors makes your compliment that much more precious—thank you!), **dcjp**, **NoMutant**, **DataAndrd**, **live2rite**, and others. I have to credit my friend **LaughLoveLive** for the original vision of Oliver as a police officer way back when and **Heir of Zammitelu** for reinforcing that idea; however, I have no idea exactly where his future is going to take him with his career.

I noticed a few shared themes in some of the PMs and reviews that bear further mention. The future remains fluid when it comes to most things, and that includes Sarah and Dani's relationship. Just because the story is currently impelling me to have Sarah and Cassie gravitate to each other right now doesn't remove any possibility of a rekindling of the flame between Sarah and Dani in the future (or even in this story). Second, it sounds like I was able to convey some of the sense of respect I have Arlington National Cemetery and what it represents, and for that I am very relieved. I remember each visit I have made there clearly, and I will always carry great respect for all the soldiers who have risked and often sacrificed their own lives to save and protect others. Self-sacrifice goes against the deepest survival instincts buried in our brains and so perfectly captures what makes humanity so amazing: our potential to overcome any adversity by working together and trusting each other.

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 15: Pretty as a Picture

_It took 6 whole hours_

_And 5 long days_

_4 all your lies to come undone_

_Those 3 small words_

_Were way 2 late_

_'Cause you can't see that I'm the 1_

--Josie and the Pussycats; "3 Small Words"

The sixteen-year-old intern stood outside the studio in downtown Los Angeles, trying desperately not to sweat. This was a tall order given the day's temperature (currently at eighty-six degrees Fahrenheit), the humidity in the valley (sixty-five percent as of this morning), and the two special guests she was waiting on. "Fuck, I'm in high school," she said out loud as she waited. "Who the hell gives this kind of responsibility to a teenager?" She checked her watch for roughly the twentieth time in the last half hour, fuming to herself as she did so.

She sighed as she reached into her pants pocket for her cell phone. _Okay, work experience isn't worth this kind of crap. Standing out in the sun at eleven a.m. I need to be paid more for this._ She had already reached the number for her boss on her speed dial list when she heard the slow squeal of tires turning a corner a bit more tightly than they'd prefer. She looked up and completely forgot about reflexively hitting the Send button until she heard a voice on the other end of the call asking if anyone was there.

"Um, yeah. I'm here," she said before she corrected herself. "I mean, they're here." Numbly, she hit the End button and snapped her phone shut. _Why are you so nervous?_ she angrily asked herself. _It's just two more people to take pictures of. Just like the musicians and politicians you've already help set up the photo shoots for __this month. They all took good pictures but couldn't care less about what anyone around them really thought. All that mattered was looking good and getting across whatever stupid point or idea they cared about on that particular day._ She sighed as she watched the limousine slowly creep forward, following her direction to its destined parking place. As she stood in place, waiting helplessly for it to stop and unload its passengers, she suddenly understood why so many people around the world smoked cigarettes, or jabbered on a cell phone, or preened vainly whenever they were waiting on something: it gave them something to do other than just stand there looking utterly bored. _Just two more spoiled, stuck-up bitches who expect everybody around them to drop everything and wait on them hand and foot._ She steeled herself for whatever complaint or demand would come out of their mouths as they climbed out of the limousine. Whatever it was, she'd handle it. _Maybe it would be the hot weather. That'd serve these princesses right._ Still, things could be worse. This internship was going to get her into the college of her choice, someplace where she take her interest in photography and hone it until she could make a living at it. Until then, she'd suck it up and deal. She frowned as the limousine came to a stop and the rear door nearest to her popped open before she had even gotten close to the door. _Looks like little Miss Thing can't even wait for anyone to get the door for her. Must be in some kind of a mood if she's ready to get this over with._

The girl's train of thought came to a screeching, squealing halt as she saw the broad, genuine smile on the face of the blonde girl who climbed out of the limousine. She looked to be no older than the young intern, even though Hannah Montana would be turning nineteen later this year. The entire world knew that. But it was the expression of happiness on her face that made her seem so young. There was no sign of irritation, or frustration, or wishing desperately to be anywhere but here.

As the music superstar's piercing blue gaze fell squarely on the intern, the younger girl felt time slow as her train of thought went from a dead stop to plummeting off a cliff, finally crashing on the jagged ground below and leaving her thoughts completely scattered. Of all the famous people she had seen over the last three and a half weeks, none of them had wrought this particular effect on her. But before her racing thoughts could attempt a recovery, the young woman with the long, straight blonde hair stuck out her hand and said, "Hey! I'm Hannah. What's your name?"

Faced with such a simple question, it was ironic that no answer was forthcoming as the young intern's mouth tried to work. Finally she was able to stammer out, "Le-Leigha. Leigha."

"Hi Leigha, I'm Hannah," the slightly older blonde said pleasantly right before she turned around to help the other passenger out of the limousine. This girl was just slightly shorter than Hannah, but her lime green hair and bright pink lipstick instantly drew a viewer's attention to her pretty face. "This is Leigha, sweetheart," Miley said to her wife.

The perky attitude of Lola Montana had been described repeatedly as infectious in various publications, and all it took was a sly wink and smile for Leigha to feel some of that pep herself. "Hi!" Lilly said as she also held out her hand for Leigha to shake. "Sorry we're a bit late, but we, uh, had a small emergency."

"You mean your stomach had a small emergency," Miley said with a grin as she turned to look at Lilly.

Lilly gave her partner an exasperated grin. "And since my stomach belongs to me, and since I belong to you, that means WE had a small emergency. Right?"

Miley looked at Lilly for a few seconds, then she turned to Leigha and abruptly said, "We stopped for milkshakes. Want one? We got a few extras."

Leigha's jaw dropped as the blonde superstar turned and reached back into the limousine. She returned with a drink carrier with four Styrofoam cups, each with a straw beside it.

"We got two chocolate, one vanilla and one strawberry," Miley said as she held the carrier out to Leigha for her to take one of the shakes. "Pick your favorite."

"Um, I'll take one of the chocolates, I guess," Leigha said, gingerly reaching for one of the cups.

"Yes!" Lilly said excitedly. "That means I get the strawberry!" She snatched one of the other cups greedily, sucking on the straw contentedly.

Miley smiled and walked to the front of the limousine, where she handed the driver one of the shakes. She turned and walked back to the other girls as she took a long drink of her own chocolate shake. "Okay, we ready to shoot this?" she asked Leigha as she put her arm around her wife, who was savaging the strawberry shake.

Leigha nearly choked; she had been so shocked that she had forgotten to take the two of them into the studio. "Yeah. I mean, yes, of course! It's this way," she said, leading them to the door of the studio they would be using today.

As they entered the studio, several people abruptly materialized around them. "Hannah! Darling! And Lola!" shouted Gerard Kellum, the photographer _Rolling Stone_ had hired for this particular shoot. "You two look fabulous!" He turned to an assistant and loudly whispered, "Get them out of those horrid outfits and find them something stunning to wear." That said, he turned to look at the two young women, his smile once again in place. "We have some _gorgeous_ outfits for you two to wear, fresh off the plane from Milan! I do wish you'd let us do your hair up into a different style." He reached for Hannah's long blonde locks, but Miley deftly blocked him.

"I don't think so," she said with a laugh as she waved her shake at something behind Gerard, prompting him to turn and look. "Is that the set we're usin' today?" Miley grimaced at the large bed sitting in the center of a ring of backlights. She was about to comment on the photographer's presumption when Lilly brushed by her.

"Perfect!" Lilly said. "You have a place for us to change?"

Miley smiled to cover her surprise as she and Lilly were led to a changing room by the intern Leigha. "How long have you worked here, Leigha?" she asked as they reached the changing room. By the way the young girl had been standing in the hot sun waiting on them, Miley guessed that she was fairly low in the pecking order around here.

"Oh, I'm just an intern here. I graduated school in December, and my mom got me this internship a few weeks ago. I really want to get into photography school or a college with a good photography program, and this internship should help a lot with that."

"You ever get to take any of the pictures?" Miley asked, a sneaky grin on her face.

Leigha laughed loudly. "Oh, _hell_ no! Are you kidding me? I think they'd have a stroke if I tried to do anything like that."

"Well, how are you supposed to learn anything about taking pictures if you have to do everything _but_ take pictures?" Lilly asked. She opened the door to the dressing room, letting her best friend step in with her.

"You got me there," Leigha said, shrugging her shoulders with a sad smile as the two superstars closed the door behind them.

As they stood in the dressing room, Miley and Lilly looked at each other for a long moment. "She needs a chance, don't ya think?" Lilly said, a mischievous grin on her face.

Miley nodded. "Yeah, I do." She pulled her cell phone out and scrolled down until she found the number she wanted. As she hit the button and waited for an answer, she turned back to Lilly and said, "You got any ideas about what we can bargain with?"

Lilly smiled broadly and lifted her oversized bag onto a table in the room. "Oh yeah, you could say that," she said as she opened the bag and lifted out an article of clothing. "I was expecting the bed. Or maybe lounge chairs."

Miley's eyes widened as she took in what Lilly was holding up. "Yeah, _that_ should do it," she said, a hint of surprise in her voice. "Oh, hey Daddy?" she said into the phone as Robbie Ray answered. "Lola and I made it here just fine, we just wanted to make sure you were okay with something before we did it." She paused to listen, then she hastily said, "No, no more bikini pictures, not this time." Lilly laughed silently as Miley turned around, trying not to have her own laughter triggered by her girlfriend's amusement. She grimaced as she refocused on her phone conversation. "Not quite."

Lilly tried to not eavesdrop as she unpacked her bag full of clothes. Really, eavesdropping was unnecessary, as Miley was going to tell her everything as soon as she hung up the phone anyway. As she heard the phone snap shut, Lilly looked over her shoulder at her partner. "Let me guess," she said. "He wasn't really happy about it, but he said it was our decision to make, right?"

Miley stopped short, her left hand still on her hip and her right hand, phone still in it, held out in front of her. "How do you _do_ that?" she asked Lilly with a touch of amazement in her voice.

"What, know your every thought?" Lilly said, a grin on her face as she walked closer to Miley and put her arms around her. "It's my secret talent."

Miley smiled as Lilly's lips brushed the side of her neck. "Well, it's a darn good one," she said as she bent her head to the side to let Lilly's lips brush more of her neck. "Keep it up."

"Yes, ma'am," Lilly mumbled as she kissed her way up to Miley's earlobe. "So we doing it?"

"Uh, not _here_," Miley said. "There might be hidden cameras."

Lilly gave Miley's ribs a tickle, getting a squeal and jump in return. "Not that, silly. I mean--"

"I know what you meant, hon," Miley said with a happy laugh. "And yes, we are. If they're interested in dealing, that is. I think you picked exactly the right bargaining chips." She took the short nightshirt that Lilly handed her, smiling to match Lilly's own grin. "You want to have Leigha get whoever's in change of this thing today?"

"It'd be my pleasure," Lilly said, gently tweaking Miley's cute nose with her thumb and forefinger before she turned and walked to the door.

Twenty-five minutes later Leigha saw her boss, Ms. Heidlemann, emerge from the rear of the studio where the dressing rooms were located. Once she had arrived at the studio and gone back to talk to Hannah and Lola Montana, everyone else had been shooed to the front of the studio. Speculation was rampant as to exactly what had happened to offend the two stars, as that was the overwhelming favorite theory as to why the photography supervisor would have been called down to the shoot personally.

Ms. Heidlemann stopped as she reached the area where the crew was gathered. "It seems the Montanas are wanting to do something special for today's shoot. They're requesting a skeleton crew remain to handle the shoot, and that everyone else leave the studio to give them their privacy."

Leigha sighed. _Well, it was fun while it lasted. Maybe I shouldn't have taken their other chocolate milkshake._ However, as her boss ran down the short list of who would be allowed to stay, her head shot up as she heard her name called. "Excuse me?" she asked softly. "Did you say I get to stay?"

Ms. Heidlemann smiled. "Yes, Leigha, you get to stay. In fact, the Montanas have asked that you be their photographer for today's shoot."

"_WHAT?!_" Leigha shouted at exactly the same time as Gerard, both voices pitched with roughly the same amounts of disbelief and shock.

"Gerard, the Montanas will be covering your fee for today, so you'll be getting paid just like a regular job. You'll also be credited as Supervising Photographer, so you'll receive a share of the royalties as well. But they've asked that you leave the studio so Leigha won't be quite so nervous."

The male photographer turned and stormed out of the studio, leaving his equipment behind in his haste to exit. All the male staffers likewise stepped out, leaving just two other assistants—both female—to help with lighting and the set.

"Well," said the older woman to no one in particular, "that went well." She turned to Leigha and said, "I'm not sure exactly what the Montanas are thinking, but I suggest you get us some good pictures." Leigha mutely nodded. She didn't need to be told what the stakes for her were.

A voice from the rear of the studio called out, "Is the coast clear?"

"Yes, Hannah dear!" answered Ms. Heidlemann, all trace of concern instantly banished from her pleasant voice.

Within a minute Hannah and Lola Montana were both on the set, barefoot but otherwise wearing the same clothes they had worn into the studio: jeans, a silver metallic sequined shirt and a black jacket for Hannah and a bright pink dress swirled with various colors, accentuated with fishnet stockings and a brilliant yellow hair band for Lola.

"Okay," Lilly said, "we were thinking we could get started with some shots of us sitting on the bed together."

"Since this _is_ the Hot List issue," Miley continued, "we had thought that we'd have a scene with us getting ready for bed. If that's okay with all of you." The look in Ms. Heidlemann's eyes confirmed exactly what Miley and Lilly had expected. This was a bit more than they had hoped for from the two young stars. Miley couldn't help but grin as she sat down on the bed. "Oh, but don't expect us to get naked or anything, even under the sheets. We're okay with hot but not with sleazy."

Lilly tried not to laugh. "Yeah, you learned that lesson a while back, lover," she whispered into Miley's ear, drawing a playful swat on her thigh.

"Behave, Lola," Miley said. "I was a lot younger when those pictures were taken."

"You also didn't have me with you to look out for you."

"Yes, I know." Miley turned to look at Lilly, her face somewhat serious despite the lopsided smile on it. "Believe me, I ain't makin' that mistake again."

"Good thing," Lilly said, brushing a hair off Miley's jacket nonchalantly.

Miley patted the bed beside her, prompting her lovely wife to sit down beside her. "Want to help me out of my jacket?" she said invitingly, a thinly disguised hint of desire in her eyes as she looked over her shoulder at her true love. In front of them, the _click-click-click_ of a digital camera marked the start of the photo session.

After ten minutes of pictures taken in various positions on the bed, Miley and Lilly returned to the dressing room to change. Leigha took advantage of the small break to take a look at some of the shots she had captured on the monitors next to the set. "Wow," she said, quite pleased with her results so far.

"Those are very nice, Leigha," her boss said helpfully. "Try to use the lighting more. Depending on how it's positioned, you can accentuate contrast to intensify the mood or wash it out to focus on their faces."

Leigha nodded. She definitely had a talent for taking pictures, but there was still a tremendous amount to learn. She looked up as her subjects once again returned to the set, and she swallowed as she saw the small, simple nightshirts they were wearing. Hannah was wearing a light lavender shirt with _I'M WITH LOLA_ emblazoned on it; Lola had a soft pink shirt with the matching _I'M WITH HANNAH_ on it. Both shirts came roughly to mid-thigh on the girls. "Wow, that's an... interesting wardrobe choice," Leigha said, stifling a chuckle.

"Hot enough?" Lilly said, twirling once. Leigha noted that the young actress's legs were much shapelier and muscular than she had expected. _I wonder if she plays sports or something. Maybe softball or soccer, the way she's built._

Before Leigha could comment, Miley said, "Perfectly hot, lover," taking Lilly's hand as she led her over to the bed.

Leigha immediately started clicking away, taking as many shots as she could. Over the next thirty minutes she experimented with different angles, different lighting, different positions as the two superstars obligingly held each other, posed both on top of the bed and under the sheets, and gave whatever expression Leigha asked for. However, smiles and laughter seemed to be their favorite expression, and Leigha had to admit those two expressions looked enchanting on them both.

Finally she said, "Okay, I think that's it." Leigha checked her camera and started to walk over to the monitor when she heard a groan of pleasure. She looked up and saw Hannah and Lola kissing intensely, their arms snaked around each other's shoulders. Without even thinking about it, Leigha whipped her camera back up and began snapping away, walking in slowly as she zoomed in on head shots of the two young women who had apparently gotten enraptured in each other during the course of the photo shoot. As she drew closer, her subjects fell back onto the bed, lips still pressed forcefully together as they continued to release some of the sexual tension that had accumulated over the last hour of close contact.

"Yesss," Lilly hissed as she tipped her head back, letting Miley first kiss and then lick her neck. Leigha madly clicked away, hoping fervently that the pictures would come out, as she wasn't even bothering to adjust anything as she instead concentrated on speed. Suddenly Lilly flipped Miley to the side, straddling her belly as she leaned down to hungrily kiss her best friend's lips. Leigha dropped to her knees, capturing the kiss in full profile with several shots before rising again to use another angle.

After several steamy minutes of intense kissing, Miley and Lilly finally came to their senses. They kissed quickly one last time, smiling both at the slight release they had achieved with their making out and with the knowledge that much greater release would occur as soon as they were safely at home. They sat up, legs and waists covered with a single sheet haphazardly strewn about them, and pressed their heads together as they both looked into Leigha's camera. The heavy-lidded looks on their faces and slightly mussed hair clearly communicated that they were both _quite_ aroused by their making out, and Leigha quickly captured several frames of them sitting that way as they held each other. "That work for you?" Miley said, her voice much huskier than usual for her.

"Worked for me," Lilly replied, still holding her best friend. "I mean, _really_ worked for me. But then, kissing you always does."

"I know the feelin'," Miley answered, her accent more prominent now, as it always was when her desire began to overwhelm her. She knew that they needed to stop the photo shoot now before it became a shoot for a much different type of magazine. "Okay, time for us to get changed and hit the road."

As they stood and walked back to the rear of the studio, Lilly said, "I wonder how fast the driver can get us back home," drawing smiles from the four women remaining on the set.

After they had once again dressed and left the dressing room, Miley and Lilly stopped to look at the frames from the day's shoot. As they scrolled through the frames, they were quite pleased. The pictures had nearly all turned out to be fittingly hot, ranging from warm at the beginning to smoldering halfway through and finally a flashfire at the end.

"Wow," Lilly said as they looked at the last frame, their faces side by side, mirror images of love and desire reflected on their faces. Their unruly hair (a testament to the quality of their wigs that they were so lifelike) only reinforced the notion of how into each other Hannah and Lola were at that very moment, which thrilled Miley to no end.

"I love that one," Miley said, pointing to the final frame.

"Yeah, plus I like the one with us kissing, and I also like those from really early on where I'm rubbing your shoulders," Lilly replied.

Before a debate could ensue on the merits of each picture, Ms. Heidlemann spoke up. "We're going to run multiple covers." Everyone turned to look at her, surprise on their faces. "Three alternate covers for newsstands, one for subscribers, one for promos. Maybe more. That way we can use several of these terrific photos." She turned to Leigha and smiled. "Congratulations. You just shot your first covers for _Rolling Stone_."

A loud whoop echoed through the studio before Leigha realized it was her voice responsible for the yelling. She hugged Ms. Heidlemann, completely forgetting that she was her boss, then she ran around the older woman to hug Miley and Lilly both. "Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, thank you two so much!" she babbled happily. "I don't know what told you to let me do this, but I can't--" She stopped abruptly, tears filling her eyes. "I can't put into... words how much this means to me, but... well, thank you thank you thank you!"

Miley and Lilly smiled at Leigha's happiness as they hugged the raving girl, sharing part of her elation. "I think it worked out great!" Miley said. "We got the covers we both wanted, and you got a real break for your career!"

"Yeah, I never imagined I'd get a chance like this!" Leigha said, tears still running down her face despite her laughter.

"Sometimes life sneaks up on you," Lilly said. "You sure as heck made the most out of your chance." She looked over Leigha's shoulder at Ms. Heidlemann. "I think you've just locked in a good photography school after today," she said, drawing a knowing nod and smile from the older woman. "Congratulations," Lilly said as she pulled back to look into the eyes of the teenager not much younger than they were. "Feels good to get your chance and really nail it, doesn't it?" she asked with a knowing grin.

"Yeah, it does!" Leigha said, still near-delirious. The standing in the hot sun, the endless running back and forth, the griping and complaining she had endured throughout this internship were all forgotten, replaced by the elation of her accomplishment.

"Okay, we need to get home," Miley said, extricating herself and her wife from Leigha's fervent grip. "Thanks again, and we can't wait to see it in print! Can we get a copy of each cover?"

"I think we can arrange several copies of each cover for the two of you," Ms. Heidlemann said pleasantly. "We'll send them to your record company as soon as they print tonight. The courier will deliver them tomorrow if someone will be there."

"We'll have someone there," Miley said. "Okay, see you later! Nice to meet you, Leigha!"

Lilly waved goodbye as well. "Yeah, bye! Good luck with school, Leigha!" The young intern was too busy crying to answer, so instead she simply waved and blew them a kiss.

Miley and Lilly linked hands and walked out into the bright Los Angeles afternoon, smiling as they slipped on their sunglasses. "That went well," Miley said as she walked to the limousine.

Lilly opened the door for her girlfriend to sit down. When Miley was in and had scooted over, Lilly fell into the soft leather bench seat as well, closing the door behind her. "Yeah, I think so." She clicked the intercom button to the driver and said, "Okay, we're ready to get back to the record station." She released the button and slid into her lover's lap. "Now, where we were, my little Tennessee wildcat?" she said playfully as she ran her hands into Hannah's long golden locks and kissed her wife deeply.

"Mmm, right here, I think," Miley replied as she slid her hands underneath Lilly's skirt and onto her thighs. They kissed for a minute or two, then Miley whispered, "Can we leave the wigs on when we get home?"

Lilly giggled and said, "I think that could be arranged, as long as we're careful."

"Careful is my middle name," Miley said as she captured Lilly's hot pink lips again.

Thirty minutes later they pulled into their driveway. They had taken their wigs off for the drive home, and they carried them in with them as they raced into the house. Robbie Ray's Suburban was gone, so they had the house to themselves. Miley had already called him a few minutes earlier and left a message suggesting he find something to do outside of the house for the next hour or two in an attempt to avoid any embarrassment from him coming home before the girls had sated their desire for each other.

Lilly locked the door behind them as Miley ran up the stairs, putting her Hannah wig back on as she went. Lilly likewise slid her Lola wig on, checking its fit in her compact before replacing the heart-shaped compact back in her purse. She went up the steps more carefully, considering the pumps she was wearing, but it was hard to restrain herself when she knew what would be waiting on her in their bedroom. As she pushed open the slightly ajar door, she smiled as she saw Miley lying back on the bed, her boots on the floor beside her. "So is making love to the hottest pop star on the planet better than making love to anyone else?" Lilly asked teasingly as she tossed her bag onto the dresser beside the door. She kicked her pumps off and slowly crossed the room before sitting on the bed beside Miley's legs, looking up at the blonde-haired dream girl of millions of boys (and tens of thousands of girls) around the world. But despite all her admirers and their fantasies, Hannah Montana was a reality for only one very special young actress, much to the dismay of the others.

"Well, I think you're the only one who could really answer that question," Miley replied, slightly drawling the words. "Since you're the only one who's ever made love to me."

"There is that," Lilly agreed helpfully. "Well, I think it's pretty darn wonderful, if you ask me."

"I _am_ asking you."

"And I'm _showing_ you." Lilly unbuckled Miley's belt and unbuttoned her jeans, finally unzipping them and sliding them off before tossing them on the floor. Before Lilly could turn back around, Miley had sat up and grabbed her, going on work on Lola's dress aggressively. Within a minute both girls were completely naked and entangled together, kissing madly as each girl's hands roamed the body of the partner she knew so well.

Lilly gently eased Miley down until she was lying on her back, then Lilly shifted to sit beside Miley's right side, turning her back to her lover's face so she could focus on an entirely different part of Miley. Lilly circled her left arm around and under Miley's left leg to get a solid grip, then she gently began to make love to her best friend with her mouth and her free hand.

As Lilly tenderly, reverently made contact Miley gasped at the palpable jolt that passed between the two of them. The foreplay in the photo shoot had left both of them turned on, and it was all they could do to not escalate things in the rear of the limousine. But now no one could watch them. No one could spy on them. No one could interrupt Hannah Montana and Lola Montana during this intimate moment where the rest of the world fell away and only the two of them mattered.

As Lilly rapidly brought Miley to higher and higher states of arousal, she felt Miley's long fingers make their way across her butt and between her legs, which she helpfully spread by repositioning her right leg on the bed. Lilly moaned against Miley as she felt Miley's middle finger slid into her and begin to work first back and forth, then in and out, alternating her rhythmic motions in the way she knew Lilly loved to be touched. Lilly refocused on her current task, determined to bring her wife to orgasm before Miley could beat her to the punch. Lilly began to twirl her finger and then curled it slightly as she caressed Miley from deep inside.

As Lilly began to taste the fruits of her efforts, she knew Miley was riding a wave of ecstasy. Immediately after Lilly's taste buds tasted the slightly different flavor of Miley's orgasm, she could feel her best friend shiver underneath her, grunting as her body shook with convulsions of release. Lilly slowed and softened her efforts, but she didn't stop until she could feel Miley shake again beneath her. This time Miley found her voice and screamed once, a guttural, piercing scream that hung in the air for several thrilling seconds.

As Miley's fingers soon began to work between Lilly's legs again, Lilly felt Miley's left hand begin to caress her left breast, delicately tracing around her nipple. Lilly could feel her body responding to Miley's touches as the pleasure began to simmer inside her, but it was her partner's hungry voice that abruptly pushed the young woman over the edge.

"Lola sweetheart, I love you so much. Cum for me, lover."

At the sound of her other name, Lilly's body responded immediately. Before she could even draw a deep breath, Lilly found herself jerking as the surging waves of orgasm washed through her, each successive crest drawing her deeper and deeper into the depths of the love she and Miley shared with Lola and Hannah. After what seemed like minutes of utter bliss, Lilly found herself leaning back against the warm body that Miley shared with Hannah, the woman Lola had pledged her life to just like Lilly had pledged hers to Miley. Lilly closed her eyes as she relaxed completely in the secure embrace and said, "I love you, Hannah Montana. Always have, always will."

"I love you too, Lola," Miley replied. "Forever."

For some time they sat just as they were, not covering their sweating bodies or worrying about how they looked. Here they could be themselves, either as Miley and Lilly or as Hannah and Lola, and no one would ever intrude upon their private time. Finally Miley's back began to ache slightly from the slightly awkward position she was in, and she shifted Lilly to where they could snuggle together as they pulled the remains of their covers and quilt over themselves.

Later that evening the sound of a knock on the bedroom stirred Miley from sleep. "Yeah?" she said with a sleepy voice, waiting to hear what her father had to tell her and Lilly.

"Miley? Your dad said that you and Lilly were taking a nap, so I hope I'm not disturbing you."

At the sound of Ashley's voice, Miley felt her heart skip one, maybe two beats. As a pure reflex she grabbed the covers and yanked them over her and Lilly's heads before her heart resumed beating at an accelerated pace. "Ashley!" she said loudly from underneath the covers, where she hissed at Lilly. "Lilly! Wake up!"

"Miley?" Ashley asked with a confused voice. "Did I wake you two up or--"

As Miley tugged her Hannah wig off her head, she guessed that the sudden break in Ashley's talking meant that she had realized the two of them were underneath the covers. Miley popped her head up out of the covers, her broad smile designed to project innocence firmly in place. "Um, yeah!" she said cheerily. "Plus we had been, uh, you know..."

"OH!" Ashley said, realization in her voice. "You mean you two were..."

"Before we fell asleep, yeah," Miley said. Beneath the covers she groped across Lilly's face, finally getting a grip on Lola's wig and yanking it off Lilly's head.

"Owww!" Lilly groaned from underneath the covers. "What's the big idea?" she asked, still mostly asleep.

"Ashley dropped by to surprise us, _Lilly_," Miley said pleasantly as she peeked under the covers and locked eyes with her wife.

The emphasis Miley put on her name was a subtle cue that Lilly immediately picked up on, even in her sleepy state. She reached up and felt her long blonde hair, now free of Lola's wig. "Okay," she said as she slid up in the bed slightly, finally getting her own head free of the covers. "Hey, Ash. Sorry, we were asleep."

"Yeah, I figured that one out, Lilly. Thanks." Ashley closed the door and turned back around to the two young women huddled together in the bed still.

Miley glanced around the room, silently thankful that they had closed the Hannah and Lola Closet before they left earlier. She didn't see anything too incriminating lying around other than their clothes from earlier, but without the wigs there was nothing to really link the outfits to Hannah and Lola. Well, nothing that had been published yet. Still, caution demanded they get Ashley out of their room until they had a chance to make sure everything was properly stowed away. "Um, Ash, I don't want to be rude, but do you mind to go downstairs while we get dressed? We'll be right down."

"Yeah, we're kinda naked under here," Lilly helpfully added.

"Say no more," Ashley said quickly. "I'll be downstairs." She closed the door behind her as she left the room.

"Whew," Miley said. "That was too close. Glad it was dark in here. I don't think she saw anything."

"Good," Lilly said. She kissed Miley on the cheek and stood. "Thank you again for earlier. Lola appreciated it very much."

Miley grinned as she also stood and walked to the dresser that held their underwear, socks and lounging around clothes. As she opened the panties drawer, she smiled and said, "Hannah thought it rocked her world."

A few minutes later Miley and Lilly hurried down the steps. Ashley was sitting at the island in the kitchen, chatting with Robbie Ray about something. "Hey Ashley!" Miley said. "We're decent to talk now," she added, smiling at Ashley but flashing her father a look of frustration when Ashley glanced away. "Why don't you and Lilly go sit on the couch and Daddy and I will fix you two somethin' to drink." She smiled as Lilly and Ashley went into the living room, but as soon as they were in the next room she turned quickly to her father and angrily said, "Why did you let her come on up to the room?"

Robbie Ray was caught off guard by his daughter's anger. Any other time his daughter or daughter-in-law would have told him to send any guests on up, even if they were taking a nap. "Now just hold on a minute here, Miles, you've always told me to send any of your friends on up if they need to talk to you two."

Miley leaned in closer and hissed, "But not when we're sleeping in our Hannah and Lola wigs!" She paused for a minute to let that sink in, then she added, "If the room hadn't been dark, she'd have gotten the biggest surprise'a her life!"

Robbie Ray was now thoroughly confused. "Why were you two sleepin' in those things? You know you're only supposed to be wearin' them when--"

"Yeah, Dad, I know when we're supposed to be wearin' 'em!" Miley hissed right back.

"But from that message you left I thought you two were--" Robbie Roy stopped as the connections began to fall into place in his mind.

"And we were," Miley said, irritation still in her voice. "Then we took a nap together, you know, _after_."

"In your wigs," Robbie Ray whispered back, understanding evident on his face... with a bit of surprise.

Miley felt her face start to flush slightly. "Yes, Daddy, in our wigs." She quickly averted her eyes. "Sometimes, we, you know... like to make love as Hannah and Lola." She felt slightly foolish saying that out loud at first, but once she had spoken the words the slight embarrassment faded. She turned to look her father in the eyes again. "And you know, there's nothin' wrong with that! Lilly and I are married just like Hannah and Lola are. They deserve to have some special time together too!" As Miley paused, waiting on her father's retort, she noticed something herself: he was blushing more brightly than she was.

Robbie Ray cleared his throat and looked down at the floor. "I'm really sorry that she nearly caught you two like that," he said softly. "Next time you two are takin' a nap I'll check on you first before I tell them to come on up, okay?"

Miley felt bad that she had been so angry with her father. He had only been doing what she and Lilly had told him to do many times before, and he had no way of knowing that they would be sleeping as their alter egos during their nap. She stepped forward and hugged her father tightly. "I'm sorry I got so angry with you," she whispered into her ear, trying not to cry.

"And I'm sorry that I didn't check with you two first, darlin'," Robbie Ray whispered back. "What you two do with your love life is between you two and nobody else. You don't have to explain it to me."

"Thanks, Daddy," Miley said as she leaned back.

"No, I mean it," he continued. "You really don't have to explain it to me. No details whatsoever."

Miley smiled at his half-serious, half-humorous statement. "I get your point," she said quickly. "Now you wanna help me fix my wife and our friend somethin' to drink?"

"I do believe I have a few RC Colas that Jackson and Kaela brought us last month for just such an occasion," he said happily. "Be right back. You get the ice ready."

As Miley and her father had their talk, Lilly fought the butterflies in her stomach that indicated Miley was nervous. She turned to Ashley and asked, "So what's brought you over here on a Friday night? You and Ollie usually have plans."

"Well, he's one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you and Miley. I mean, you two know him as well as anybody in the school, so I need your advice on something."

"Okay," Lilly said as she shifted her seat on the couch, tucking her legs up under her. Ashley seemed oblivious to the discussion occurring between Miley and her father, but Lilly was all too aware of it. Thankfully, the tension in her gut began to ease quickly, and Lilly found herself able to concentrate more clearly on what Ashley had to say.

"Well, you know that Oliver and I are, like, really crazy about each other. And you know that he's taking me to the Malibu Beach Inn for the weekend after graduation."

"I'm with you so far," Lilly said, nodding along.

Ashley smiled and continued, "And you know that I think he's going to propose to me that weekend. I really hope he does, Lilly, because I am totally in love with him."

Lilly smiled broadly. "He's completely in love with you too, Ashley. We know it."

"What do we know?" Miley said, setting two glasses of RC down on the table beside the sofa.

"That Oliver's in love with Ashley," Lilly said.

Miley nodded as she took two more glasses from her father and then set them down on the table as well. "Yeah, that one we've kinda figured out."

Ashley took one of the glasses of soda, saying, "Thanks," as she took a drink. Once she was done she said, "Well, I was thinking, what if he doesn't propose to me? I mean, I want to be with him! I know nobody's perfect, but we've made it through rough spots before, and I think he's a good man." She paused, then her gaze flitted from Lilly to Miley and then back to Lilly. "What I was wondering is, if he _doesn't_ propose to me that weekend, how do you think he'd react if I proposed to him?"

Miley sat down next to Lilly, her right leg resting atop Lilly's left knee. "Wow, that's a good question," she said. "I think he's gonna propose to you too, but we could try to find out for you... if you'd like."

Lilly gave Miley a skeptical look. "We're not going to be meddling again, are we?" she asked cautiously.

"No, just asking him some questions." Miley noted that the look on Lilly's face hadn't changed. "And trying to get him to talk to us. You know, to get us some specifics."

Lilly continued to look skeptical. "It always starts that way, Miles, then the next thing you know we're dressed up like maids trying to break into a hotel room or something!"

Miley laughed at that memory. "Yeah, but that turned out okay, didn't it?"

"I guess so..."

"Look, Lilly, this is Oliver. I'm not planning on sneaking into his house or dressing up in disguise and following him around or anything crazy like that. We can just flat out ask him. That way Ashley will know what to expect that weekend."

Now Lilly smiled. "_That_ I can go for," she said happily.

Miley smirked as she said, "You'd have gone for the disguise and sneaking around too."

Lilly smile softened to a weak grin as she admitted, "Yeah, for you I would have, Miles."

"And I love you for it." Miley leaned to give Lilly a kiss on the cheek, but Lilly turned to make it a quick kiss on the lips instead.

"Why use this," Lilly said as she tapped her cheek, "when you can have these?" pointing to her lips. She smiled at her wife, then she turned back to Ashley. "Okay Ash, you said that was one of things you wanted to talk to us about. What else?"

Ashley's smile disappeared as she looked down at the floor. She carefully placed her glass back onto the table, then she turned to look at Miley and Lilly. "I think I'm going to go see Amber... and I'd really like you two to go with me."

**Author's Afterword:** Hope everyone enjoyed that chapter! So, just what HAS Amber been up to? And where is she now? You'll find out next chapter, and the answer might well surprise you. If you've never had an RC Cola, it's a soda made and bottled in the South with a taste somewhere between a Coke and a Pepsi but a bit stronger than either of them. Next chapter also brings us the return of Mr. Corelli to our story! Stop by and see how he's doing. I always love reading your reviews and comments, so feel free to post them or PM them to me. See you soon!

-- Jo --


	16. Chapter 16: An Audience Of One

**Author's Note:** Hi again! I paid a little visit to Misty Hollow's real-life counterpart this past weekend for my great-uncle's 80th birthday, and it was just as beautiful as I remember. I hope I'm doing it justice in my stories. I had already planned on our girls making a little trip out there post-graduation, but I just can't keep it a surprise any more. That's right, this story _isn't_ going to end with graduation, because there's more to it after Miley, Lilly, Oliver, Ashley and Sarah walk the stage! Thanks again to everyone for reading and leaving their great reviews; they're always appreciated. Leigha (from our last chapter) has asked me to tell those of you wanting to know that she pronounces her name _LEE-uh_, so consider yourselves thusly told. I also want to welcome several new readers who have left really sweet reviews recently; I hope all of you continue to enjoy our heroines' stories!

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_ Also, if you'd like to review the Cast of Characters, it's located at the beginning of Chapter 11. If not, then happy reading!

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 16: An Audience of One

_If looks could kill_

_You'd be lying on the floor_

_You'd be beggin' me_

_Please, please, baby don't hurt me no more_

_If looks could kill_

_You'd be reelin' from the pain_

_And you'd never lie again_

_If looks could kill_

--Heart; "If Looks Could Kill"

"I still think this is a bad idea."

Miley turned to look at her partner in everything. Lilly's beautiful silky blonde hair sparkled in the sunlight shining through the clouds in the Malibu sky. The two of them stood just on the front porch of the house of their former classmate Amber Addison as their friend Ashley DeWitt rang the doorbell. The car crash at their senior prom had very nearly claimed Amber's life, and the last time Ashley had gone to see her Amber was still in a persistent vegetative state—a coma, in everyday terminology. "Still got a bad feeling, huh?" Miley asked, smiling softly at Lilly.

Lilly nodded her head as they turned to assess Ashley, who was visibly trembling at the thought of seeing Amber again. The two former best friends had become bitter enemies since Ashley had finally stood up to Amber's bullying. After that tearful time, Ashley had gone on to become friends with Miley, Lilly and Oliver Oken, with that friendship growing further into love for the slightly goofy but good-hearted Oliver. Ashley had expanded the long-time circle of three friends to a circle of four, and Miley and Lilly were already trying to decide when would be the time to let Ashley in on their other lives as Hannah and Lola Montana. "I'm really worried about Ash, though," Lilly whispered.

"I can hear you two back there," Ashley said, but before she could add anything else the massive door in front of her opened quite suddenly, revealing Amber's father. "Hi Mr. Addison," Ashley said. "Could we... talk to you and Mrs. Addison for a minute?"

The taller man looked at the three young women for a moment, then he smiled and said, "Of course, Ashley. Please come in, all of you." He waved at Miley and Lilly to follow Ashley inside, closing the door behind them once everyone had crossed the threshold. "Have a seat in there," he said, pointing to the sitting room past the foyer.

Ashley led Miley and Lilly into the large room, where they sat on a massive white sofa. Miley and Lilly held hands once they took their seats, both nervously leaning forward as Ashley fiddled with her skirt.

"I'm sorry it's been so long since I stopped by to see Amber," Ashley said. "But I--" She stopped, searching for the right words. "I'm the reason that she got hurt, and I felt--"

"Ashley," Amber's father said, gently reaching out to place his hand on her shoulder. "I believe Amber was really at fault, much more so than you were. You only did what you did to save the lives of your friends. And the three of you then turned around and saved Amber's life as well. Mona and I have thought and prayed about this for a long time now, and we forgave you a long time ago for what you did."

Ashley leaned forward and hugged the kind man she had always liked, if slightly feared due to his imposing size and deep voice. "Thank you," she said through her tears. She pulled back and asked, "Do you mind if I see her? Even if she can't hear me, I need to talk to her, to try and explain why I did what I did."

Mr. Addison looked at Ashley for a long moment. Finally he nodded his head once. "Alright. If you think that's what you need to do."

"Thanks," Ashley said as she stood with him.

"Mona is with Amber in the garden room. I'll walk with you." He looked at Miley and Lilly. "The two of you are welcome to come as well."

Lilly gave Miley a hesitant look, but she stood as her wife got to her feet. They followed Ashley and Mr. Addison down a long hall, but they stopped at the doorway to a large, open solarium. Neither of them had to say anything to the other, because both of them knew that they wouldn't be comfortable being in the same room with Amber. Not after what she had tried to take away from them. "We'll wait here," Miley said softly to Ashley, getting an understanding nod in silent reply.

As Ashley walked through the pathway between the fountains and small flower gardens, she saw Amber sitting stiffly in a lounge chair, facing out one of the large picture windows at the end of the room. Beside Amber was her mother, Mona, who turned to see Ashley approach. Mona stood and walked to Ashley and gave her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. "It's good to see you, Ashley," Mona said. She led Ashley over to the seat she had just vacated and said, "She opens her eyes sometimes now. She still hasn't spoken yet, but we hope--" She stopped suddenly as tears threatened to overwhelm her. She turned to look back at the young woman and said, "We were just talking the other day about seeing if you would come visit her. Maybe she might respond to you, since you two were friends for so long."

"I need to talk to her, Mrs. Addison," Ashley said carefully. "I need her to hear that I wasn't trying to hurt her. I was only trying to save my friends. I never wanted her to get hurt like she did."

"We know that, Ashley. And I think--"

Mona's gasp made Ashley turn her head to follow her gaze. As she turned to look at Amber's face, her former best friend's eyes were open and staring directly at her. While there was no expression on Amber's face, her eyes were piercing as they looked directly into Ashley's. "Amber..." Ashley said with a whisper before chills raced up her spine and a cold sweat began to form on her forehead.

"Ash... ley..." Amber said, her mouth only slightly opened, her voice dry, hoarse and altogether eerie.

Ashley felt her heart pounding and her mind reeling, then she was on her feet and running, past Miley and Lilly, past Amber's father, not stopping until she was out of the house and leaning against her emerald Mercedes.

Miley and Lilly were hot on her heels, not exactly sure why Ashley had bolted from the house. "Ashley!" Lilly called as she caught up to Ashley first, Miley just steps behind. "Ashley! What happened?"

Ashley gulped in several breaths of the hot, humid Malibu air, which had never tasted so good as it did right that second. "She turned to look at me. And she said my name," she gasped out, her heart still racing.

"What?" Miley said, shock in her voice. "When did she start talking again?"

"She hadn't. At least, not until then." Ashley felt a shiver go up her spine again, even now. "But the way she looked at me..."

Miley turned to look back at the house, the door now closed. "Well, she's not lookin' at you now," she said seriously.

"Miles, I am not _ever_ going back in that house again," Lilly said, her face pale. "Not after this!"

"Neither am I," said Ashley, shaking her head resolutely.

"Me three," Miley added, turning away from the stark white mansion.

Back inside, Mona ran to get her husband. "Henry! She spoke! Amber said Ashley's name!" she yelled as she left the large solarium, leaving Amber sitting by herself for the moment.

Amber's eyes remained staring at the position where Ashley had stood seconds earlier, their penetrating focus still unchanged. "Ash... ley..." she whispered to the empty room. "Hate... you..."

The rest of the weekend passed uneventfully. Miley and Lilly spent the rest of their Sunday on the beach, playing in the ocean as Lilly tried to teach Miley how to surf. This was an ongoing quest for both of them, but Lilly had many more years of experience with those motions than Miley, and maintaining her balance on a surfboard moving in three dimensions continued to elude Miley. Eventually she settled for sitting on the beach, letting the waves break over her body as she watched her young wife ride the waves farther out on the ocean. The setting sun behind Lilly's figure made for a spectacular sight as she surfed in on her last wave, riding it all the way into the shore in a perfect ending.

Lilly hopped off the board and let it continue to follow the rolling tide up onto the beach; she instead splashed onto her knees beside Miley and tackled her girlfriend as she wrapped her up into a playful hug and kiss. They stayed in that position for several ins and outs of the tide, enjoying the salty spray around their bodies as they let their hands roam across each other freely.

Miley smiled as she looked up at Lilly between kisses. "There's a song in this somewhere," she said happily.

"Then write it," Lilly replied teasingly. "Or do you need more inspiration?" She kissed Miley again as a larger wave broke across her back, smacking them into each other lightly.

"I don't think I could handle any more inspiration, because this is perfect."

The growling of Lilly's stomach made both girls laugh suddenly. "Oops," Lilly said. "Sorry."

"It's okay, honey," Miley said. "Let's go see if Daddy has dinner ready yet. We need to finish reading for our English test tomorrow anyway."

"True," Lilly said. Still, she made no move to release Miley from her secure grip. "One more kiss," she said before claiming that kiss, making it a deep, prolonged kiss that curled both girls' toes.

"Oh," Miley said haltingly as they broke contact, "that was a mighty good kiss." She got to her feet as Lilly helped her up, then she began picking up their stuff and placing it back in their beach bag while Lilly went to get her surfboard. "You're lucky your board didn't float off while you were kissing me, you know."

"Miles. It's tethered to my leg, remember?"

"Oh yeah."

"Goofy girl."

School was a nice change the next day. As the number of days remaining in their senior year continued to dwindle, the girls found that they didn't mind going to school so much. And the surprise they received as they walked down the hall on Thursday between first and second period really made their days.

"Mr. Corelli!" Miley shouted at the sight of their history teacher coming down the hall. She and Lilly ran up to him and hugged him fiercely. "We're so happy you're back!"

He returned the hug strongly, a huge smile on his face. "I'm feeling better than I have in a long time, ladies. I started my treatments last week, and I'll be doing the bone marrow transplant by the end of the month." Mr. Corelli had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood that often led to secondary infections like his earlier pneumonia; untreated, it could easily prove fatal. However, he had made a solid recovery from his weakest point in Washington, D.C., and he was apparently doing well with his current therapy. "But I'll be out for a few weeks really soon. The treatments are going to wipe out my current bone marrow, and the doctors say that a school is the last place I want to be without an immune system."

"Aw," Lilly said. "We were looking forward to you being here for the last few weeks."

"Well, I might be back for the last week. I'm going to try and talk the doctors into letting me be here for graduation, at least. Maybe for senior week."

"That'd be good," Miley said as Lilly nodded her agreement. "We missed you."

Mr. Corelli lowered his voice slightly as he said, "I also hear from Ms. Hughes that the two of you spearheaded some sort of effort to collect enough money to pay for my hospital bills in Washington." Without waiting for a reply from the two oddly silent young women, he said, "Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I can only imagine how much that would've cost me, because I know that the hospital there wouldn't have been in my network. Thanks to the two of you I've got no bills from that stay, and I deeply appreciate that." He gave each of them a kiss on the top of her head, then he released them and said, "Now go get to class! You better not be late!"

"We'll see you later today, Mr. Corelli!" Lilly said happily as she and Miley hurried down the hall to their next class. Both girls felt like a spring had been put in their step at the sight of Mr. Corelli. In a way, it seemed to signal that things might just be getting back to normal. Or at least what passed for it at Seaview.

Second period proved uneventful, but as Miley and Lilly filed into their third period class the chatter throughout the classroom was rather prominent. Miley dropped her backpack on top of her desk, then she walked over to a small cluster of boys and girls gathered around a chair across the room. "What's got everybody all stirred up?" she asked as she approached the crowd.

"The new _Rolling Stone_!" yelled Gina Giles, a friend of theirs and Lilly's soccer teammate. "It's the Hot List, and you have GOT to see who's on the cover!"

"That's a different cover than the one I have at my house," said one boy looking over Gina's shoulder.

Miley and Lilly peered over the shoulders of the crowd to see Hannah and Lola looking back at them from the final frame shot during their photo shoot. Their hair, eyes and faces clearly indicated that they were quite aroused, even more so than Miley and Lilly had expected. "Wow," Miley said softly. "They look..."

"Hot," Lilly finished for her. "Really, _really_ hot."

"Are you sweating, Lilly?" teased Jamie Escante, Gina's girlfriend and another of Miley's and Lilly's friends. She flipped Lilly's hair to the side and said, "Oh my gosh! You _are_ sweating! Hannah and Lola Montana are making you hot!"

Lilly was too flustered to say anything, but Miley quickly came to her rescue. "I'm okay with that, because they make me hot, too," she said, fanning herself dramatically.

Lilly flashed Miley a grateful smile. She wasn't used to being caught totally off guard, but that picture and Jaime's joking had managed to do it. "My honey understands me," Lilly said happily as she kissed the palm of her hand and blew that kiss toward Miley.

Missed among all the laughing, joking and ogling was Ashley, standing farther back from the crowd as she followed a different train of thought. She had been in a very pensive mood all day because of what had happened at Amber's house several days earlier, and that had started her thinking again about Amber and how truly frightening her former best friend's behavior had become. So was it really coincidence or rather cosmic timing that a magazine with Hannah and Lola Montana on the cover would appear next to Miley and Lilly Truscott at the same time Ashley was mulling over Amber's theory that the Montanas and the Truscotts were really one and the same?

_They got engaged the same weekend. They got married on the same day. They've never gone with me or with anyone else I know of to a Hannah concert, despite the fact that I _know_ Lilly is crazy about her music. They're totally comfortable being with each other, even in big crowds, just like Hannah and Lola. They touch each other all the time and sneak kisses and hugs constantly. Miley's dad is a songwriter, and the songwriter credited with most of Hannah's songs is also named Robbie Ray—and he happens to be Hannah's dad._ But one nagging fact prevented that list of observations from adding up to the obvious conclusion. _But they were standing beside me when Hannah was walking down the hall in Seaview the day of that concert. That was real. I was there and saw it with my own two eyes. How could Miley and Lilly be standing beside me when Hannah and Lola were walking down--_

She paused and sat down in her seat, even though there was still roughly a minute before class officially began. _No, Lola _wasn't_ there. Hannah said she was somewhere else. It was just Hannah. And Miley and Lilly went backstage to meet Hannah before the concert, right before Miley got sick. But Miley hadn't said anything about being sick before she and Lilly went to meet Hannah!_

As their teacher walked in the door of the classroom, Ashley loudly whispered, "Gina! Will you please pass that back here?"

Gina nodded and surreptitiously passed the magazine back to Ashley while at the same time she continued to face forward and smile at their teacher. Ashley whispered, "Thanks!" and stashed the magazine under her notebook and textbook.

As class progressed, Ashley only half-heartedly paid attention to the lecture. The other half of her attention was spent reading the interview conducted with Hannah and Lola Montana and the accompanying articles about their careers and celebrity.

Once that class was over, Ashley handed Gina her magazine back, then she caught up to Miley and Lilly at lunch as they went through the line. "You two going to the Hannah Montana concert in two weeks?" she asked them casually.

"We already have plans," Lilly said as she reached for an apple, having spied one she liked the looks of. "You and Oliver going?"

"We might," Ashley said as she selected an apple as well. "He thinks he might be able to get us some tickets from a friend of his mom's."

Miley turned and said, "My dad can get you two tickets if you want. He knows enough people in the record company."

Ashley smiled and said, "Thanks, Miley, that'd be great! How much do you think he'd want for them?"

Miley shook her head. "No way he'd charge you for them. I wouldn't let him. Not for a friend of ours."

Miley faced the cashier and began to pay. As she did so, including Lilly in her total as well, Ashley had a few seconds to think. Once she paid for herself and the three walked over to wait on Oliver at their usual table, she sat for a minute, enjoying Miley and Lilly playfully teasing each other as they ate. The more Ashley thought about things, the more she could see those things falling into place.

But the biggest revelation of them all as those similarities fell into place was that if Miley and Lilly really _were_ Hannah and Lola Montana—or Lola and Hannah, whichever the case may be—it really didn't matter to Ashley. Because, more importantly than anything else, _they were her friends_. They had been good to her when no one else at the school had been. They had accepted her for who she was deep inside and looked past all the spiteful, hurtful things directed at them that she had participated in over the years. They had been there when she needed friendship and someone to listen to her. _They've been there for me whenever I needed them. They forgave me for the things I've done to hurt them. I can certainly forgive them for keeping a few secrets from Oliver and me._ And just like that Ashley decided that she would never ask them about her suspicions. If Miley and Lilly truly were secret celebrities and they decided to tell her one day, then Ashley would accept that decision and protect their secret. If they didn't, then that was their choice to make, and it would be made to protect their privacy.

"Hey Ash," said Oliver from behind her as he quickly kissed the top of her head. He set his tray down beside hers as he plopped down beside her. "You're thinking about something?" he asked as Miley and Lilly were arguing about something that sounded like whether or not a duck's quack truly didn't echo or if that was just a myth.

Ashley nodded as she looked at the young man she loved. "Just about how great our friends are," she said with a smile.

The next two weeks sped by. Graduation was less than ten days away, and excitement was palpable through the halls of Seaview High School. As the bell to dismiss classes for the day rang, Miley and Lilly hurried outside, making their way to their Roadster. Hannah Montana had a concert in Los Angeles tonight, and Miley and Lilly knew they needed to get home as quickly as possible so they could get ready for the show. Ashley had indeed gotten two tickets for herself and Oliver from Robbie Ray, and Miley had made sure they were front row.

As she dropped into the passenger seat, Miley took Lilly's backpack as she handed it to her, putting it in the floor at her feet. Lilly closed the door and started the car. "Okay girl, get your mommies home safely," she said to the car, patting the steering wheel.

"You are so goofy some times, Lilly," Miley said teasingly.

Lilly just laughed and said, "You still love me."

"Yep. I sure do." Miley took Lilly's hand and bent down to kiss it once, then she sat up straight again. "And all of your goofiness."

"Hey, who did I catch sleeping with Mr. Beary the other night?" Lilly asked as she pulled out of the school parking lot onto the main road.

There was a pause, then Miley plaintively said, "I couldn't help it. He looked lonely."

They stopped for a traffic light. Lilly turned to Miley and said with a smile, "Miley, we all need our Mr. Bearys now and then. It's okay."

As they started into motion again, Miley sighed and closed her eyes as she leaned back into the seat and grasped Lilly's hand securely. "I don't need Mr. Beary anymore, Lilly. You're what I hold onto when I need to feel safe and secure." Miley felt Lilly squeeze her hand, but her girlfriend didn't say anything for the rest of the drive home. Miley understood. She could feel a tear or two escape her closed eyes as well.

As they pulled into the driveway and then into the carport, Lilly turned off the engine. She and Miley got out of their car and practically ran to each other, meeting behind the car and hugging each other fiercely. "You're my Mr. Beary too, Miles," Lilly said, not releasing her wife from her grip.

Miley smiled as she looked into Lilly's glistening eyes. "I sure as heck better be, or we're gonna have a little talk."

That got both girls laughing, and they stayed that way as they went inside. No sooner had they started up the stairs than the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Lilly said, as Miley was already halfway up the steps. She turned and jogged to the front door, opening it quickly. Standing in front of her was a young woman who shared many features of Lilly's best friend: the same facial shape, the same lean body, the same blue eyes, the same long hands and fingers, but those similarities were balanced by differences as well. The hint of sadness in those otherwise bright blue eyes, the way the corners of her mouth turned when she smiled (like now), the stance that just wasn't the same as Miley's, the short, straight auburn hair that had once been long, curly, and the color of fresh chestnuts—all these helped distinguish Miley's sister from Miley herself. "LUANNE!" Lilly cried out happily as she grabbed her sister-in-law and wrapped her up in a fierce hug. "It's good to see you, sis," Lilly whispered happily.

"Good to see you too, Lilly," Luanne said as she squeezed Lilly tightly. "Sorry for not callin', but I wanted to surprise you and Miley. I finished my classes yesterday and was exempt from finals 'cause of my grades, so I decided to fly out here and spend some time with you two."

Lilly pulled Luanne inside, then she grabbed the two bags Luanne had left sitting on the front step. By the time she turned around she heard Miley thundering down the steps.

"What the heck is—LU!" Miley yelled, racing across the living room and nearly knocking Luanne backward onto the couch.

"She came out to see us for a few days!" Lilly said excitedly as she sat down on the couch beside them, then she abruptly stood. "Oh shoot, Miles! The concert!"

Miley released Luanne from her grasp and stood. "You in the mood for some music, Lu?" she asked with a bright smile on her face. When Luanne grinned and nodded once, Miley waved for her sister to follow her and Lilly upstairs.

The three girls ran up the stairs to Lilly and Miley's bedroom. Once inside, Lilly opened the regular closet and then the Hannah and Lola Closet. "I've got something for you to try, Luanne," Miley said, kneeling down and pulling out a plastic tub. She popped the lid off and smiled at she looked up at Lilly and Luanne. "Try this on," Miley said as she pulled a long strawberry-blonde wig out of the tub and tossed it to her sister.

"When did you get that?" Lilly said, surprise in her voice. Luanne turned and slipped the wig on, looking at herself in the mirror at different angles.

"I had it for a while," Miley said proudly. "Just in case, for something like this."

Lilly looked at the wig as it rested on Luanne. "That's cute!" she said.

"Yeah, it is," Luanne said with a smile. "Thanks, sis."

"Oh, don't thank me yet," Miley said, her grin growing larger. "Not 'til you see what else we got you."

As Miley pulled a sharp navy suit out of the tub, Lilly said, "So _that's_ what happened to those outfits we bought her! I had forgotten about them!"

Luanne took the slacks first and held them up in front of her legs, checking the length. "How'd you know my size?" she asked.

"Lu-_anne_," Miley said, drawing it out into two distinct syllables. She pointed at herself and said, "Duh!", drawing a giggle from Lilly.

"Yeah, I'm pretty familiar with your sister's sizes myself," Lilly added, poking Luanne in the ribs. "You and Ron going out tonight?"

Luanne started unbuttoning her jeans as Miley and Lilly began shedding clothes as well. "Yeah, but I told him I was getting in a bit later, so I could surprise you two without him knowing. Plus he's working late tonight anyway."

As Lilly stepped into a pair of bright pink stockings, she decided now was as good a time as any to ask a question that had been on her mind for several months now. "So, have you two, uh, done it yet?" she asked abruptly.

Luanne turned to look at her sister-in-law. "Well, _that_ wasn't one of the questions I was expecting," she said with a wry grin on her face. "But no, we haven't." After a few seconds, she asked, "What prompted that question?"

Lilly was buttoning the buttons on her white and black swirled skirt as she answered, "Well... I'm pretty sure you're going to be, you know... his first." She felt slightly embarrassed even discussing her brother's sex life, particularly since he was two years older than Lilly, but Ron was still her brother and she loved him. That meant she had to look out for him when she could.

Luanne slid the white silk shirt onto her torso, noting that her white bra worked perfectly with it. "Yeah, we've talked about it a time or two already," she said quietly as she buttoned the shirt.

Silence filled the Closet for a minute or two before Miley finally said, "Well, dang it, Luanne! Don't just leave us hangin' like that!" She had opted for white faded jeans, a red t-shirt, black and pink Sketchers (from Lola's signature line, of course) and one of Hannah's thin white leather jackets for the concert tonight. As she slid the blonde wig onto her head, the transformation from high school senior to superstar was complete.

Lilly whistled as she tugged a white mesh shirt over the bright green t-shirt she had on underneath. She grabbed a purple half vest and put it on as she continued to check out her wife. "Looking good tonight, Mrs. Montana!"

"Thanks, Lil," Miley said with a smile. She turned back around and said over her shoulder, "Which one you want tonight, hon?" as she examined the multi-hued rack of Lola's wigs.

"Ummmm, I'm feeling purple tonight," Lilly said after a moment of thought. As Miley tossed the chosen wig to her, Lilly deftly caught it and situated it on her head. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Miley answered as she peered over Luanne's shoulder. Her sister now appeared to be a professional of some sort, but something was still missing. "Oh yeah!" Miley said as she bent over and rummaged through the tub from earlier again. She stood quickly, holding out a glasses case. "Here. I had these made for you."

"Thanks," Luanne said as she removed her own glasses and replaced them with the pair inside the case. The frame was a cinnamon color, and in conjunction with the strawberry-blonde wig it completely changed how Luanne looked.

"So who do you want to be?" Lilly asked. "I mean, your name. I figured that we could say that you were my assistant. That way you won't be standing next to Miley all the time, where someone might notice the similarities."

"Makes sense," Luanne said. She thought for a moment before Miley grabbed her hand.

"Okay, think on the way! We've got to get goin'!" she said as she led Luanne and Lilly out of the Closet.

Just under an hour later they arrived at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Robbie Ray had handled the driving tonight, as he still did when his daughter had a local concert. This was the first of two concerts over two nights for Hannah in Los Angeles, and the crowds were both large and eager around the building when they pulled up to the arena.

"Whoa," Luanne said as they drove past the crowds gathered outside the building. "I've never been to one of your concerts. Are there always this many people?"

"At the big arenas, yeah," Miley said without a hint of pretentiousness. "I like to go to the smaller ones too, though."

"Anna Lee," Luanne said abruptly.

"What?" Miley said, turning to look at her sister.

"My name. You know, for this disguise. Anna Lee."

"That's pretty," Lilly said, getting a nod from Miley. "Anna Lee it is."

The limousine pulled up to the front of the arena, and the shrieks from the crowd could be heard even with the windows rolled up. "Okay, we'll see you and Daddy later," Miley said to Luanne. They had already decided that a personal assistant for Lola would most likely avoid walking the red carpet with Hannah and Lola. Instead, she would follow with the girls' manager, logically. That also let Robbie Ray show Luanne around while Miley and Lilly could do their thing unhindered for now.

"Bye, Anna Lee!" Lilly said cheerily as she opened the door, triggering a cascade of flashes from the photographers surrounding the red carpet laid out for the couple's arrival. She stepped out briskly, then turned to help Miley out. Once Miley was out, the two of them waved to the cameras and held hands as they walked inside. Once inside, they were met by the venue's manager, who led them to their dressing room. Miley and Lilly already knew the way—this was roughly the thirtieth time Hannah had been in concert here—but they politely followed the older man through the halls. Once they were safely inside the dressing room, Miley grabbed a bottle of juice and opened it, taking a long drink before she handed it to Lilly.

Lilly frowned at her girlfriend. "I do _not_ backwash," she said firmly, playing along with the teasing Miley was doing without saying a word. "And even if I did, you don't complain when I kiss you."

"And I never will," Miley said as she took the bottle back as Lilly finished her drink. She turned the bottle up and finished off the juice, smiling as she tossed the plastic bottle into the recycle bin. "See? Not worried about backwash at all."

"Good thing, 'cause I really filled it full that time."

Miley paled for just a second. "You did not!" she said heatedly.

Lilly started laughing. "No, I didn't, but that was a great reaction!" She fell backward onto the large couch, holding her sides as she continued to laugh.

Miley fell atop her, tickling Lilly's belly and ribs fiercely. She smiled at the happy shrieks coming from her girlfriend, finally stopping when Lilly's face was flushed and her wife was squarely underneath her on the couch. "Surrender," Miley said, a grin on her face as she held her hands poised for another tickle attack.

Lilly smiled as she reached up and gently ran her fingertips over Miley's left cheek. "Okay," she said, then she closed her eyes as Miley leaned down and kissed her hungrily. They kissed for several minutes, finally stopping for air once both girls were lightheaded. "I love you," Lilly said, kissing Miley's hand.

"I love you, too," Miley replied. "Want to come to sound check with me?"

"Sure!" Lilly replied happily. She didn't go to many sound checks with her wife. They tended to be boring since there was nothing for her to really do and Miley wouldn't be performing yet. But if Miley wanted her to come to sound check, Lilly was happy to accompany her.

As the two of them walked onto the stadium floor, Lilly saw that Miley's band was already up on the stage fiddling with their instruments. "Hey guys," she said cheerily, giving them a wave that was returned by the half-dozen people already on the stage as she stopped short of the steps.

Miley continued on, mounting the steps beside the stage and walking over to the microphone as she greeted her band, giving hugs and smiles to everyone. They had continued to work hard on the new material even after the album came out, gradually introducing more songs to the concerts as they all grew more comfortable with performing them live. Miley began to inspect the microphone stand and microphones laid out on a folding table beside the stand as well as the headset microphones also resting on the table. At this point in her career she still preferred the headset microphones, as they left her hands free during the songs, but some songs just felt better with a old-fashioned microphone and stand to hang onto.

Lilly went to get a folding chair from the middle rows on the ground floor, but one of Hannah's crew hurried over with a bright pink director's chair for her to sit in. "Thanks," Lilly said pleasantly as he placed the chair in the center of the front section, slightly back from the stage. She looked at the back of the chair and snickered at Lola's name emblazoned on the chair in letters alive with swirls of colors. "So when did you get this for me?" she called out loudly to Miley.

"Oh, I've had it for a couple weeks," Miley said, still inspecting the headsets. "Just in case you ever needed it. But you never seem to sit down too much when I'm on stage."

"I get too excited! Can you blame me?" Lilly said as she carefully sat in the chair.

Now Miley looked up and winked at Lilly. "Nope. And I like it that way." She went back to examining her microphones as Lilly looked around at the band members, all busy checking their own equipment.

The band that Hannah was currently using had been with her for quite some time. Two members had been with her for almost four years, covering both of her earlier tours and spanning all the way from her second album to her current sixth one. All the other members but one had been with her for nearly two years, with the newest member joining her about six months ago. While they were all quite competent musicians, Miley and Robbie Ray tended to stick with solid, low-key performers rather than flashy characters interested in solo careers.

Hannah's band stuck with her for several reasons, most of them involving families of their own. Long tours were a rarity for Hannah; instead, she preferred to scatter most of her concerts within a short drive or flight away from Los Angeles, allowing her band to live at home and maintain as much of a family life as they wanted. Alcohol and drugs were strictly forbidden at Hannah's concerts, practices and when recording, and that appealed to musicians with a desire to stay sober and avoid the partying that tended to accompany most music superstars today. On that same note, Miley loved to meet the children and families of her band members, and she made a strong point to make everyone feel included in her team.

The steady income was another strong attraction for Hannah's musicians and backup singers. In the music industry, Hannah Montana was a guaranteed draw for any concert at any time in any city, and that meant she was always in demand. Robbie Ray had always told her, "If you take care of the guys and gals standin' behind you now, you don't have to worry about any of 'em stabbin' you in the back later." Miley had taken that advice to heart, and she took great care to treat all of her crew with respect and consideration. Lilly felt the same way, and she had come to see Hannah's band as just another family for her and Miley, a music family. That feeling was mutual. All the members of Hannah's band were older than Miley and Lilly, some by over twenty years, and nearly all of them had come to see the young singer and her partner as little sisters. Just as Hannah and Lola took care of them, they returned the favor whenever possible. Paparazzi and reporters who approached Hannah's band seeking dirt on the young singer were inevitably disappointed by their unwillingness to share anything but glowing praise for Hannah and Lola, and any journalist who pressed further was likely to find trouble instead.

As Lilly watched Miley and her band test instruments and then microphones, she found herself daydreaming a bit. As they began running through parts of songs, she noticed that the two new songs Miley was planning on introducing into the live show tonight sounded fairly good. As everyone started to feel confident things were going to go smoothly tonight, Lilly found her attention focused on some of the band teasing Miley about something.

"Come on, Hannah!" said her one of her guitar players. "You absolutely own that song when you do it in practice!"

"Uh uh," Miley said, shaking her head with Hannah's golden hair tossing from side to side with each shake. "That's when we're just goofing around. I'm not doing that song anywhere outside of the practice studio!"

"But you said that Lola loves that song!" said the drummer, a boyish grin on his face. "And this is sound check. What better time to try it out? Nobody's here except the crew and us."

Lilly found herself rather intrigued by this exchange. "Sweetheart, don't be embarrassed by anything when it comes to me," she said, raising her voice to make sure it carried clearly onto the stage. "You know I'll anything love anything you do." She smiled to emphasize her point.

As Miley heard her best friend's words, she knew that she really could do anything and Lilly would be appreciative of her efforts. As she seriously considered performing the song that her band members were kidding her about, Miley heard one of her guitar players start playing the first chord of "Hell Yeah," a song by the band Rev Theory which just happened to be a favorite of Lilly's. Immediately afterward, the bass and drums thundered, setting the song into motion as the other guitarist joined in as well, grins quite evident on all their faces.

When Miley had told her band several weeks ago how much her wife loved that particular song, they began to kid around with her about it, saying that she better learn how to perform it better than Rev Theory did. They all knew that Hannah and Lola were inseparable, but it became a fun point to needle their young star with. Eventually Miley took their dare and sang the song for them during an otherwise unremarkable practice. At first it was just a joke, but everyone liked the way it sounded—even Miley. The hard rock sound was different from Hannah's typical approach, but Miley's voice was amazingly talented, and she quickly proved capable of singing the song quite well indeed. Her showmanship had grown over the years until it was easily equal to her beautiful voice, and before long she had developed moves for the song that would have fit the lead singer of nearly any hard rock band. Since there was some profanity in it, Miley knew that she would probably never perform the song in concert unless a drastic shift in her target audience occurred, but it remained a fun song to perform in closed-set practice with her band.

Now, however, she was about to perform the song that had started as a joke for her most precious audience of all: Lilly. Miley found herself uncharacteristically nervous as the music quickly approached what she thought of as the "take-off point," the place where the tempo changed and the two guitars led the way into the first set of lyrics. She quickly found her mark on the stage and began stepping in time with the surging music as she fixed Lilly with her eyes, sending a surge of energy directly into her wife's body as their eyes connected.

When Miley began singing in one of the lower registers of her singing voice, Lilly felt her heart rate soar. Miley quickly moved into one of her more natural registers as she sang, but when she hit the chorus, she put some power into her voice, sending her words surging out of the banks of speakers on each side of the stage. Before she knew it, Lilly was on her feet cheering and jumping up and down as Miley prowled across the stage, still looking like a rock star but one of a different style entirely.

As soon as she began to sing, Miley decided that this time she was going to perform seriously, with no hint of joking around. After all, Lilly loved this song, and Miley owed it to her girlfriend to do it justice. So if the song called for a full-blown hard-rocking presence, then she was sure as heck going to make it happen. She hit her marks that she had worked out initially as jokes, she swung her hair and hips with equal intensity, and she poured intensity into her voice as she ran through the song. To her surprise, it felt _good_.

As she slowly walked to the front of the stage as she approached the end of the song, she saw a fire in Lilly's eyes that clearly indicated how much her wife was enjoying her performance. As she noticed that, Miley also could feel Lilly's happiness deep inside, mixing and adding to her own excitement like feedback between microphones and speakers placed too close together. As Miley ended the song, she fell to her knees, still holding the microphone stand she had swung around throughout her performance. She leaned her head back, trying to will her heart to slow down, but the sound of Lilly's cheering and clapping only served to keep her body in a state of arousal... in more ways than one. Suddenly Miley felt Lilly practically tackle her in a fierce hug, and then Lilly's hot lips were on hers, triggering an instinctive response to return the heated kiss of the woman she loved.

After several seconds, Lilly pulled back, blushing madly at her loss of composure. "Sorry," she said a bit abashedly. "Didn't mean to just tackle you like that."

Miley grinned as she reached out and took Lilly's hand, squeezing it tightly and then relaxing her grip but not letting go. "Don't apologize for showing me that you love me, hon. Not ever."

As Lilly spoke her words came out in a rush. "My gosh that was terrific! I mean I'd heard you sing that song just playing around with me at home but this was totally different because it was like all _guitars_ and _drums_ and _dancing_ and _concert-y_ just like what you'd hear at one of their concerts but of course it was you singing it and you sang it so _crazy good_ that it made my heart do all sorts of flip flops inside and I just couldn't believe you could sing a song like that so perfectly but then of course you _are_ perfect when you sing and I--"

Miley stopped the torrent of words by planting her lips back on Lilly's and kissing her soundly, not releasing her girlfriend until she felt Lilly's shoulders start to melt underneath her grip. Once she knew Lilly was decompressing, Miley pulled her head back and looked deeply into Lilly's shimmering blue eyes. "So you liked that?" she asked softly.

Lilly slowly nodded. "Oh yeah," she said with a shy grin. "Loved it."

"Good."

"You ever gonna do that one for me again?"

"Maybe."

"With the whole band and everything?"

Miley wasn't sure how to answer that question. "Well, they got me to do it in practice as a joke at first, but then I sort of enjoyed singing it. It was different, sorta."

Lilly nodded again, more briskly this time. "Yeah, it's very different, but you do it really well. But I guess it's not really appropriate for your younger fans, is it?"

"No," Miley said, shaking her head with a sad smile. "And I really love them just as much as I do my fans our age and older. So I think this one might be a one-time performance."

Lilly surprised Miley then, which didn't happen too often. While Miley had been expecting her wife to be sad about not seeing her perform that song again, Lilly instead smiled more brightly than before. "Then at least I got to see and hear Hannah Montana rock harder than she ever has before," Lilly said as she reached forward and gently held Miley's right cheek. "As much as I love that song, I know as well as you do that it's not Hannah's thing. But any time you want to sing it to me at home..."

Miley laughed. "Deal, girlfriend," she said happily. The two of them helped each other to their feet, then they turned and shared a laugh with the band.

As Lilly playfully fussed at the band members for not letting her sit in on their recent practices, no one noticed the security guard standing off to the side of the arena floor, just a bit farther back than Lilly had been standing. He had stood off to the side and watched from an angle, but the compact digital video camera in his hand had clearly captured the impromptu performance that had just taken place. He smiled as he considered how popular his video was going to be once he posted it on the Internet—regardless of any potential consequences the supposedly private performance was about to cause the two very public figures holding hands on stage.

**Author's Afterword:** My apologies for this chapter taking so long to finish. It reshaped itself several times while I was writing it, but it seems to be happy with this final form. If you've never heard Rev Theory's song "Hell Yeah," I do recommend you find it and give it a listen. In fact, once you find it on YouTube, why not minimize that window and just listen to it while re-reading the last part of this chapter? After working this through in my head backward and forward, I can now see and hear Hannah just belting out that song with Lola cheering her on in HD quality. And while we're on the subject of rocking Tennessee girls, USA Today reported August 19th that Hayley Williams of Paramore is going to be a playable (presumably unlockable) character in Guitar Hero World Tour when it releases in October 2008. Way to go, Hayley! We love you and Paramore!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Lots of readers have been eagerly awaiting Luanne's return, and I promise that she's got much more to do in this story still ahead. Also, while I had been anticipating roughly four or five more chapters, that number might increase depending on how the story plays itself out. And no, I'm not going to tell you if Amber will be back to her old ways in this story or if you'll have to wait until the next one to see exactly what she has in store for Ashley. I'm just mean like that sometimes. Sorry. Oh, and I suppose I should belatedly add to my Disclaimers list that I make no claims on Rev Theory or their great song "Hell Yeah."

See you soon!

-- Jo --


	17. Chapter 17: Breaking Waves

**Author's Note:** It's been too long, but the next chapter is finally here. I think most everyone is busy getting back into the swing of school, and my girls are no different. This is the only year that all my girls are going to be in school together, with my oldest a senior in high school and my youngest in Pre-K at the elementary school. As you can imagine, it's going to be a busy year. I want to sincerely thank everyone for their nice reviews, with special mentions to **EscapeYourFate** (hope my PM answered your question, if not, please let me know), **Guitargirl007** (thanks for the great praise—my highest goal is to bring the characters to life in our minds so we can see and hear them for ourselves), **live2rite**, **seraphinn** (right on about Hannah's music also having to grow up—you haven't been sneaking looks at this chapter, have you?), **MiddiVampira**, **ShadySkills5**, **Hula Hoop Queen**, **simmy58** (yeah, I love the song too!), **Bladed Darkness**, **Gentry**, **Heir of Zammitelu**, **xbLuex**, **nikkiFierce** (thank you _so much_ for the amazing compliments, again!), and **Pezz** (welcome to the Lileyverse—we've all got lots more Liley love to come!)

**ShadySkills5** had also asked a question about whether Luanne and Ron were somehow already related by Miley and Lilly being related. While Ron is Miley's brother-in-law and Luanne is Lilly's (secret) sister-in-law, they have no distinct relationship to _each other_. Also, as far as Ron and everyone else is concerned, Luanne is just Miley's cousin, so that removes any confusion for the families. And **Heir**, I did watch the Olympics. I really enjoyed the gymnastics and the swimming and diving, but the U.S. coverage of track and field was pretty weak. Endless sprints with a few hurdles, no javelin, no shooting, no archery, no hammer throw, no triple or long jump. We did get a brief look at high jump... for about three minutes. Hope all of you outside the U.S. got better coverage of more events.

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_ Also, if you'd like to review the Cast of Characters, it's located at the beginning of Chapter 11. If not, then happy reading!

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 17: Breaking Waves

_Stand up straight and stand up tall_

_Ain't got to waste your time in shopping malls_

_Slam the door and let's tear down the walls_

_Crank it up_

_Let's mess around_

_Be who you are_

_'Cause you're a star _

--Josie and the Pussycats; "You're a Star"

Lilly awoke slightly before the alarm clock went off, something unusual for her. She smiled as she felt Miley's chest slowly move up and down underneath her left hand where it was resting on her lover's body. She carefully slid out from under the covers, checking the clock as she grabbed a robe from the chair beside their bed.

Lilly silently made her way over to the door leading to the small balcony outside their bedroom as she slipped on the fluffy pink robe. She carefully unlocked and opened the door and then stepped out onto the wooden deck. As she watched the sky slowly brighten, she smiled as she smelled the salty tang of the ocean and listened to the dull roaring of the waves breaking onto the beach. But as much as Malibu was where she had grown up and lived her entire life, Lilly knew that it was now only a temporary home. Certainly it would always be her birthplace and her hometown, but now Lilly's home was no longer tied to a place. Instead it was tied to a beautiful brunette just an inch taller than Lilly with a voice like thick, sweet honey and the cutest Tennessee accent Lilly could ever imagine.

"Whatcha doin' up so early?" said the very voice Lilly was thinking of, coming from behind her.

Lilly turned around as she said, "Just look—" The words froze in her throat as she realized Miley had stepped outside wearing nothing but a plain white t-shirt, just barely long enough to cover her hips. The sheer fabric also helped announce that the air was bit chilly for Malibu, much to Lilly's shock. "Miles!" she said as she rushed over to her girlfriend and opened her robe, wrapping it around Miley.

"Mmm," Miley said sensually as she hugged Lilly's body tightly. The feel of Lilly's warm skin again her own with just a thin t-shirt separating them was a tremendous turn-on for Miley, and even as she closed her eyes and began to relax, her hands sought out her favorite spots on her wife's body.

"We should, um, probably go back inside," Lilly said, swallowing with a very dry throat. "You know, the neighbors and all that..."

"Mmm hmm," Miley moaned against Lilly's neck as she kissed her gently. She reached behind her for the door, finally finding it and turning the handle. Once they were back inside Miley repositioned her hand underneath Lilly's robe, getting a soft hiss from the young blonde.

"We need to... close the curtain," Lilly said as she managed to do just that. "Now," she said a bit more confidently as they slowly made their way over to their bed, "we can lay back down."

However, the buzzing of the alarm clock put a halt to their amorous activity. "You have _got_ to be kidding me," Lilly said dejectedly. Suddenly Miley fell backwards onto the bed, pulling Lilly along with her. "WHOOP!"

Once they were lying back down, Miley grabbed Lilly's head with both hands and kissed her deeply. After the two kissed intensely for several seconds, Miley gently pushed Lilly's head away slightly. "Snooze button," she whispered with a sly grin.

"I can handle that," Lilly said, matching Miley's grin with one of her own as she reached for the clock.

After the girls had finally gotten in the shower and finished getting ready for school, they hurried downstairs. "Mr. S!" Lilly yelled as she ran down the stairs, Miley hot on her heels. "We're running a bit late, so I hope you don't mind if we eat—AHH!" Lilly screamed as she nearly ran over Luanne, who had just turned the corner at the foot of the stairs and was on her way up.

"Jiminy Cricket, Lilly!" Luanne said loudly as she sat on the floor where she had fallen backwards. "You always run down the stairs like a wreckin' ball?"

After a pause of a second or two, Miley nodded and said, "Pretty much, yeah."

"Yep," Robbie Ray agreed, his voice coming from the kitchen.

"Yeah," Lilly said at the same time.

"Oh," Luanne said. "Well, how about a hand up?"

"Can do, Lu!" Lilly said cheerily, helping her secret sister-in-law to her feet. "Sorry about plowing into you like that."

Miley snickered as she moved past Lilly and Luanne and headed into the kitchen. "Just be glad she wasn't on her skateboard," she called over her shoulder as she grabbed two drinks out of the refrigerator. "Mighta hurt then."

"I bet," Luanne said, winking at Lilly before she gave her a hug. "Be careful on the road, 'kay?"

"Of course," Lilly replied as she walked over to the kitchen door and grabbed her and Miley's backpacks. "Got my precious cargo with me," she added, nodding her head at Miley.

"You gonna be okay here by yourself, Lu?" Miley said. She knew that her father had a meeting at the record company this morning, but she figured Luanne already had made plans with Ron for today.

Luanne nodded as she moved toward the stairs. "I'm going over to Ron's in a bit. His mom is making us breakfast, then he's taking me somewhere as a surprise. The rat won't tell me where. Anyway, I'm goin' to get in the shower, then I'll head on over there. You dears don't mind if I use your shower, do you?"

"Nope, all yours, hon!" Miley said. "Bye! Bye Daddy!"

"Bye Lu, bye Dad #2," Lilly added as she closed the door behind them.

Luanne talked to Robbie Ray for a few minutes before he also left, off for some meeting about promotional tie-ins for Hannah. Even since Miley and Lilly had purchased the licensing rights for Hannah and Lola, they had been very selective about which products they would allow to be made and marketed. The record company was always looking to add to the variety of products, but Miley and Lilly had stood firm in limiting the use of their names and likenesses, even disagreeing with Robbie Ray from time to time. As a result, Hannah Montana and Lola Montana products remained in the public eye but resisted overexposure from saturation marketing. The girls had also established that no less that fifty percent of their profits from the sale of licensed products would go directly to the Hannah and Lola Montana Foundation, ensuring a steady stream of income to their charity for children and the arts.

Now alone, Luanne cleaned up the slight mess she had left from making breakfast then slowly made her way upstairs. She closed the door to Miley's and Lilly's room behind her as she entered; she knew no one else was in the house, but she still valued her privacy. She made her way into the bathroom and turned on the shower, then she looked around the bedroom.

It was hard for her most of the time, having to keep secrets from the rest of her family. Having a pleasant breakfast conversation with her father, only him having no clue of his true relation to his other daughter. Mending the tatters of a relationship with the man she had aways believed to be her father growing up, even though he was truly her uncle. Forming a friendship with a "stepmother" only a few years older than she was.

Luanne now let the tears come freely rather than fight them. Denying their existence was ignoring that dangerous side of herself, and that would only lead to a spiral downward into anger and hatred. Luanne had sworn to herself to never let her rage dominate her life again, and to this day she consistently took her medication and saw her therapist regularly. She was willing to do whatever it took to keep this happiness she had found in life.

She dropped the robe on the floor and stepped into the shower. She smiled as she looked around, somehow knowing which shampoo would be her sister's and which would be her sister-in-law's. It was like the two young women had somehow imprinted their very personalities on those small objects they handled every day. Twins _were_ supposed to have a special connection, after all, so why shouldn't Luanne be able to feel those imprints left by the two people that she was truly closer to than anyone else on earth? She smiled as she took the bottle of Miley's shampoo and soaked her hair under the shower's spray.

As she bathed, she let her mind wander ahead to seeing Ron again. "What is it about those Truscotts that attracts us Stewart girls?" she mumbled to herself as she rinsed her hair clean of the conditioner. Ron was pretty much Lilly's opposite. Lilly was athletic, Ron was artistic. Lilly was boisterous and outgoing, Ron was quiet and observant. But they both had the soft blonde hair and the bright blue eyes, and they shared the same easy smile and caring personality. Luanne had grown close enough to Ron to see that being shy didn't keep him from having strong feelings for those he cared about, and Luanne valued his reserve as much as she did his honesty. In truth, she was a very powerful personality, and his laid-back attitude was very complimentary to her more aggressive one. He also helped her stay grounded whenever one of life's challenges would arise, whether it was a Physics midterm or losing her purse. One call to Ron would bring her back to a calmer, happier state, and that was a rare gift. But did she love him enough to marry him?

She sighed as she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. _That_ was the big question, the one she had wrestled with herself over for months now. She had always valued her freedom, the ability to do what she wanted at any time she wanted. At times she had willingly given that up, such as with school, but was she willing to tie her life to that of someone else from now on? Was she even capable of making that degree of commitment?

_Yes. I can make that sacrifice for love. For a love like Miley and Lilly have, or one close to it. _She frowned as she looked at herself in the full-length mirror. _I think._

As the day slowly passed at Seaview High School, Miley and Lilly found it harder and harder to think about school. Tonight was the second night of Hannah's concerts in Los Angeles, and the excitement that the two young women had experienced the night before made it hard to think about anything else.

"I hope tonight goes as amazingly as last night did," Lilly whispered to Miley as they swapped out books at their locker.

"Oh yeah," Miley said, taking her best friend's usual line away from her playfully and getting a grin for her efforts.

"That sounds cute when you say it like that. Is that how it sounds when I say it?"

Miley nodded as she closed the door to their locker forcefully, engaging the built-in lock as the door slammed shut. "That's one of the many, many things I adore about you, sweetheart," Miley said, only barely restraining herself from reaching up and pulling Lilly's head in for a deep kiss. Instead she settled for just tangling her fingers in Lilly's blonde hair, hanging freely today with only two small multi-colored braids dangling side-by-side on the right side of her bangs.

Lilly closed her eyes and leaned back against the lockers as even that simple touch of the woman she loved was enough to send a sizzle across the nerves of her scalp, neck and back. Uncontrollably she sighed, quickly losing herself in the gentle touch of her girlfriend.

"Hey, Earth to Lilly Truscott!"

Lilly's eyes slowly fluttered open at the sound of Oliver's voice. "Hey Ollie, Ashley. You two enjoy the concert last night?" she asked languidly.

"We're going tonight," Ashley said happily. "The tickets Mr. Stewart got us were good for either night, so we're using them tonight." She paused for a moment, then she asked, "You two sure you don't want to go?"

"We went last night," Miley hastily interjected. "And it was great!"

"You get good seats?" Ashley asked, trying not to smile.

"Really good seats," Lilly now added as she pushed off the lockers and began to move again. "The show was amazing. Hannah just totally rocks!"

"So you two want to go back tonight with Ollie and me? I'm sure your dad could get two more tickets for you two."

"We'll pass, but thanks Ash," Miley said, taking Lilly's hand. "We need to get to class. Our Home Ec teacher doesn't let anyone slide if they're tardy."

"Try not to burn anything else down!" Oliver called out as Miley and Lilly hurried down the hall, Miley leading and Lilly finally starting to catch up.

"Anything _else_?" Ashley asked as she turned to look at Oliver. "I don't get it."

Oliver just smiled as he looked at his girlfriend. "Lilly and ovens don't always mix," he stated simply. "Even frozen pizza."

Ashley continued to gently lean into Oliver as they made their own way down the hall. "How could she mess _that_ up? Don't the teaching ovens have cut-offs on the timers so you can't overcook things?"

"Yeah, but those don't help much when you leave the cardboard underneath the pizza when you put it in the oven."

Ashley covered her mouth with her hand as she started laughing. "Oh, she didn't!"

"Oh yeah. She did."

"Lilly's not that bad in the kitchen! I mean, she's helped Miley cook dinner when we've eaten over there before."

Now Oliver's grin became much more of a sly smirk. "Yes, but Miley wasn't wearing a tight leather miniskirt on those nights either."

"Ahhh..." Ashley said as the pieces snapped into place. "Lilly got a bit distracted, huh?"

Oliver opened the door to their next class as he said, "Just a bit."

When school was over at the end of the day, the four friends hurriedly said their goodbyes in the parking lot. Oliver had to get Ashley home in time to get ready for the concert, then hurry back to his house and get himself ready. Ashley had offered to drive them into Los Angeles for the concert, and Oliver had gratefully accepted. Miley and Lilly also didn't waste any time in getting home, as they had some getting ready to do as well.

As the girls hurried into the house, they saw a note pinned to the refrigerator with a small magnet: _Went out with Ron. Back home later tonight. Have fun! Lu._

"You think she and Ron would like to maybe do something with all of us tomorrow night? It is Saturday, after all," Miley said as they finished reading the brief note.

"I don't see why not," Lilly said as she smiled and fixed them both a glass of water. "Spending some time around other people would probably do my brother good." Her eyes twinkled as she added, "Plus it'd give me lots of chances to embarrass him horribly."

"Be nice," Miley said gently as she rubbed Lilly's forearm.

"I am nice!" Lilly protested as they set down their glasses and started up the stairs. "I haven't hit him in... like, two years, I guess!" she said proudly.

"What about the football game this past Thanksgiving?" Miley asked, a wry grin on her face.

"Football games don't count. And anyway that was a block. It was perfectly legal." Under her breath, Lilly added, "Not my fault he's a wimp," drawing a smack on the butt from Miley.

"Sassy," Miley said with a grin that she quickly swapped for a straight face as soon as Lilly whirled around.

"And you love me for it, too." Lilly grinned and spun back around just as rapidly. "It's superstar time!" she yelled out as she ran for the stairs.

Miley tried not to laugh as she watched her the girl she had chosen as her partner in life thunder up the steps._ Well, did I really choose her or were we chosen for each other a long time ago?_ She smiled as she climbed the stairs altogether more slowly than her wife did. _ It doesn't really matter... because I would have chosen her anyway. A hundred times over._

Several hours later the Hannah Montana concert was in full swing, and Lilly was standing just off the side of the stage as Miley was approaching the tentative end of the concert. The crowd had been particularly energetic tonight, and Lilly predicted that Miley would reward them with at least two encores, maybe even a rare third. She sipped her lemonade that Roxy had brought her and smiled as she thought about Oliver and some of his amazingly outrageous disguises he had come up with over the years to hang out with Hannah and Lola. As she thought of her longtime friend, Lilly wondered how he and Ashley were enjoying the concert. They had front-row seats, after all, and Ashley was a big Hannah fan herself.

Lilly tossed the empty paper cup in one of the recycling bins Miley insisted upon for her concerts and wiped her hands on her chartreuse skirt. Telling Ashley was going to be a bit awkward. After all, they had gone out of their way to firmly convince all of Seaview High School that Hannah Montana was a separate person from either of them, and Ashley had been fooled just as much as everyone else.

The clattering of beads being brushed aside heralded Miley's exit from the stage, at least temporarily. "Whew! Hot out there tonight!" she said as she walked over to the refreshment table where Lilly was standing.

Lilly handed Miley a chilled bottled water, lid freshly removed. "I'd say it is," she said with a smirk as she loosely wrapped her arms around Miley. She waited until Miley had taken a long drink of water before she placed a kiss on her lover's lips. "Verrry hot," she added, drawing the word out as she stared into Miley's eyes.

"Not exactly the kind of hot I was talking about, Lola," Miley said, but the slight smile on her lips indicated that she didn't exactly disagree with Lilly's assessment.

Lilly felt a buzz against her ribs as her purse began to vibrate. "Go give 'em their first encore, hon," she said as she released Miley and gently pushed her back toward the bead curtain. As Miley waved and turned around to go back onstage, Lilly opened her purse and retrieved her Lola phone, a bright pink phone with flashing blue and purple LEDs on it. She opened it to check the text message and was somewhat intrigued by what she read.

_Hey L_

_hope u2 r rockin out_

_got somethin 2 show u_

_when u2 get home_

_Anna Lee_

"Hm," Lilly said to herself as she pondered the message. It could be taken a few different ways, but since whatever the surprise was could wait until she and Miley got back home, Lilly assumed it was going to be something fairly innocuous. She quickly typed in a reply with her phone's built-in keyboard and fired it off in reply.

_just started first encore_

_prob 1 or 2 more_

_c u soon_

_LM_

Lilly snapped her phone shut and stowed it back in her purse. She stepped up to the bead curtain and peeked out onto the stage, smiling as she saw Miley singing and dancing as she sang "Let's Dance." She sighed as she considered again how blessed she and Miley were. Miley's album was owning the charts, the newest episode of _Heroes_ had continued the show's domination of its timeslot and Lola Montana had just been asked to host an upcoming episode of Saturday Night Live. To sweeten the deal—not that Lilly needed it—the show had also asked Hannah to be the musical guest for that episode as well. It was brilliant planning, as it not only essentially guaranteed that both girls would accept, it also made the episode a true event on multiple levels due to their relationship and their immense popularity.

As Lilly thought ahead as to how that would go when she and Miley flew to New York in a little over two months, she smiled broadly. _I should be terrified at having to learn several skits in just a week and then perform them live, but having Miley there is gonna make it a blast._ The two of them didn't normally watch _SNL_, but since they had gotten the top secret invitation last week they had made a point to record start recording old episodes and watch them when they found the time.

After two more encores, Miley was finally ready to go. As she told the crowd again how much she appreciated them, Lilly moved closer to the bead curtain. As soon as Miley passed through the doorway, Lilly immediately swooped in and wrapped her in a warm hug. "You were terrific tonight, hon," she whispered into her left ear, adding a warm kiss on her cheek for emphasis.

"Thanks," Miley said with a grin. "But now this country girl is hungry!" she said as she rubbed her stomach.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be the hungry one!" Lilly said in mock protest.

"Not tonight you ain't," Miley replied, giving Lilly a falsely serious glance. "We're stoppin' and gettin' something on the way back home."

Lilly linked her right arm with Miley's left as she nodded at Roxy, signaling the bodyguard to clear the way to their limousine. "What my honey wants, my honey gets," Lilly said firmly, escorting Miley down the hallway toward the enclosed garage where the limousine awaited.

Following a leisurely ride back home and an unusual stop at a restaurant for two cheeseburgers to go—plus the requisite mobbing of the girls by their fans for several minutes, ending only after several autographs were signed—Miley and Lilly returned to their home, changing vehicles at the record company as usual to prevent anyone from following them. As the Suburban pulled into the familiar driveway, Lilly said to Robbie Ray, "Hey, Mr. S?"

"What is it, darlin'?"

Lilly opened the door and got out as the car pulled to a stop. "It seems like just the other day that you drove us to the first concert I went to as Lola, doesn't it?"

Robbie Ray stopped and turned to look at the two young women standing in front of him. While they were most certainly no longer girls, he could still see hints of the features that both Miley and Lilly used to have long years ago. He sighed. While every parent knew that his or her child was going to grow up someday, it still was staggering when facing it so directly. "Lilly, darlin', it seems like yesterday to me that you two were just these itty bitty things runnin' around chasin' boys, gettin' into trouble and figurin' out exactly how you two felt about each other."

Miley and Lilly smiled and put their arms around each other as they stood in the glow of the full moon. "Time goes fast, huh Dad?" Miley said tenderly.

Robbie Ray nodded. "Faster than you can ever imagine. You just wait 'til you two have kids of your own. Then you'll see just how fast things speed on by."

"Well, we were plannin' on waitin' a few years, at least," Miley said with a laugh. "Then we'll get started on our own family."

Lilly leaned her head on Miley's right shoulder. "Course we'll have found you a really nice place to live by then, Mr. S," she added teasingly.

He grinned and lightly slapped Lilly on the back as the girls walked past him. "Wouldn't have it any other way, Lilly. After all, every parent needs the joy of wakin' up in the middle of the night to change diapers, and I sure wouldn't want to take any of that away from you two."

As they entered the house, Luanne sat up from where she had been lying down on the couch. She had put on a pair of bright orange Tennessee pajamas to lounge around in, and Miley and Lilly both noted that she had a quirky grin on her face.

"So what've you got for us, girl?" Lilly said as she and Miley walked over to the couch.

"Let's go upstairs and I'll show you," Luanne said, leading them up the stairs to the girls' bedroom. As Miley took their Hannah and Lola clothes and tossed them into the laundry hamper, Lilly sat down on the edge of the bed to watch as Luanne sat in front of the computer. "I found this earlier this evening when I was playing around," she said as she clicked on a bookmark she had set on the web browser.

As Miley sat down next to Lilly on the bed, a video titled "Hannah Montana Rocks Hard!!1!" began playing. While shot from a distance, the quality of the video was quite good, and before long Miley and Lilly were watching Hannah performing "Hell Yeah" from the previous night's sound check.

"That's from last night," Miley said. Her throat was slightly dry from the sheer surprise of seeing what was supposed to be a private performance for her wife being broadcast on the Internet, but Lilly taking her hand made the butterflies in her stomach settle a bit.

"Yeah, and it was an _awesome_ job!" Lilly said excitedly. "Now I can watch it again!"

Miley smiled as she looked at Lilly intently watching the repeat performance, but she glanced over at Luanne and saw a hint of concern in those eyes so like her own. _Lilly might love this, but how is everyone else gonna take it?_ "We did that at our sound check last night before the concert. I thought Lilly was the only person out there other than my crew. And none of them would have done something like this, videotape it and then post it on the Internet."

"Was there anybody else around? Maybe somebody that worked for the arena, like a security guard or an usher or something?" Luanne asked quietly, trying not to break Lilly's concentration.

"Well, I guess there coulda been," Miley admitted. "I mean, I was lookin' at Lilly, not at who else was around."

Luanne paused for a bit, then she added, "Most of the comments on the video have been good. Lots of people didn't know you could rock _that_ hard. But there are some people furious over you singing a song with 'hell' and 'damn' in it, mostly--"

"--parents, I'm sure,' Miley finished for her sister.

"Yeah," Luanne said with a slight smile. She paused again, then asked, "What are you gonna do?"

Miley made up her mind, and she hoped Lilly didn't get too upset with her over her planned course of action. "Not give this time to get much bigger. It'll probably be on the news tonight if it hasn't been already."

"Haven't heard anything about it on the news yet. But it's definitely getting big." Luanne looked back at the screen. "Thirty-five-thousand views so far, and it was just posted earlier today."

Miley frowned for a moment, but then she looked at Lilly's grin. As the video ended, Lilly spun and pushed Miley down onto the bed, where she kissed her deeply. "I love you so much, and seeing that again makes me realize just how amazingly talented you are," she said as she looked down into Miley's glittering blue eyes, framed by the strands of blonde hair falling around her face.

Before Miley could say anything, she heard the computer chair squeak as Luanne got up. "I'll leave you two alone," she said as she hurriedly withdrew from the bedroom, a smile on her face. "Have a good night."

"Oh, she's going to," Lilly said with a sultry voice, her eyes never breaking contact with Miley's as she hungrily claimed another kiss. Neither of them registered Luanne's laughter as she closed the bedroom door behind her.

The next morning Lilly slowly woke, a slight chill tickling across her body underneath just the sheet. She had kicked off the blanket as she often would when she didn't sleep well, and when she reached over to pull Miley closer she grasped only the bed sheet. "Miles?" she said as she opened her eyes and then sat up. "Miles?" she said louder, looking around the bedroom. The light was off in the bathroom, as was the shower. Lilly looked at the alarm clock: seven-thirty a.m. _Where the heck was she?_

Lilly hopped up out of bed and put on her pajamas, still folded neatly as they rested on the chest at the foot of their bed. As she walked to the bedroom door, she saw a note folded into a tent shape standing on the nightstand. A stylized L, written in Miley's style, was staring at Lilly. "What are you up to now?" Lilly said to herself, a smile crossing her lips.

_Morning Lilly Bear!_

_Going to take care of some Hannah business early this morning._

_Be back soon, hopefully before you wake up._

_Love,_

_Mrs. Miley Truscott_

_(your devoted wife)_

Lilly smiled and carefully folded the note back up. She gave it a small kiss, then she went over to her wardrobe and opened the double doors. She reached into one of the cubbyholes and retrieved a small wooden chest, roughly half the size of a shoe box. She opened it up to reveal a horde of tiny notes of all different colors and types of paper, all folded in various ways and all with Miley's writing on them. She placed this most recent note in with the others and smiled again as she looked at the notes from her girlfriend she had saved over the years. After a minute, she closed the chest and tucked it away in the back of her wardrobe, moving her socks to conceal it once again. She was sure Miley knew about it and that was fine, but she didn't want anyone else to find it, as that might be a bit embarrassing.

Lilly made her way downstairs, where Luanne was watching one of the morning news shows. "Morning Lu," she said as she walked to the kitchen.

"Mornin' Lil, got some breakfast for you over here," Luanne said, not taking her eyes off the television.

Lilly immediately made a neat course correction and instead headed over to the couch, where she plopped down on the other side of the couch and snatched a few pieces of bacon from the plate on the coffee table. "Whatcha watchin'?" she mumbled as she began eating. As Lilly turned her attention to the screen, it suddenly registered that she was watching Hannah in the same video Luanne had shown them last night. "When did..." she said, she voice trailing off.

"Last night none of the news stations were reporting it. This morning it's on almost all of them." Luanne smiled. "But that might be about to change."

Lilly turned to look at her sister-in-law. "What the heck are you talking about, Luanne?" she asked, her heart beating faster now. As much as she loved Miley's rendition of that song, she didn't want that very private performance to hurt her wife's career or her millions of young fans.

"I'm recording this for the two of you. Wasn't sure if you were gonna wake up in time to see it or not."

Any further comment Lilly had was forestalled by the reappearance of the weekend hosts of the _Today Show_. However, what had truly grabbed Lilly's attention was the person sitting in the chair next to the smartly dressed man and woman: Hannah Montana.

"_Hannah,"_ began the female host, _"reaction to this surprising performance of yours has been mixed. I understand you're here to shed some light on things."_

"_That's right," _Miley said, smiling her usual Hannah smile that melted icy facades and won hearts everywhere she shined it. _"That __is__ me singing that song, which was first done by a rock band called Rev Theory. It happens one of my wife Lola's favorite songs, and I sang that to Lola as a private performance during sound check two nights ago before our concert in L.A. The doors to the arena were still closed, and there were absolutely no children in a position to hear that song, so parents don't need to worry about that."_

Miley shifted as the camera angle changed; now she was staring directly into the camera. _"I don't want anybody thinkin' I'm here to apologize, 'cause there's nothin' I need to apologize for. Lola and I are both eighteen, and the last time I checked I still have the right to sing any song I want to my wife in a private settin'. Now, let's get down to what so many parents are worryin' about right now. Am I changing my musical style to somethin' more grown up? No... and yes."_

Miley clasped her hands together as she continued. _"I have absolutely __no__ intention of doin' anything to hurt my fans in any way, and I mean __all__ my fans. Lola and I have always understood our position as role models and we take that responsibility very, very seriously. I have no intention of singin' songs with any questionable language in 'em at any of my concerts at this time. However, I __have__ grown up over these last seven years. I'm not a little girl any more."_ She turned to the hosts and added, _"My daddy reminds me of that all the time still,"_ getting chuckles from both of them. _"It's only natural that my music is going to grow with me. But if I ever do record a more grown-up album, then I promise all my fans—especially the parents—that I'll give ya'll plenty of warnin' so none of my little Hannah's Fannahs wind up listenin' to stuff they shouldn't be. This world makes us all grow up fast enough, and I sure as shootin' don't want to make it worse for anybody."_

"Way to go, Miley," Lilly said as she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

"_I realize that lately there's been lots a' signs that Lola and I are moving from being cute little girls to being women. That's a part of life that none of us can stop. But we promise to always be considerate of our fans, big and small, and nobody has to worry about any songs like that one poppin' up in my concerts as far as I can see."_ Miley looked back into the camera and said, _"Lola, if you're up yet, I love you sweetheart! Be home soon!"_

"Love you too," Lilly said as she blew a kiss to Miley just as Miley did the same for her.

As the hosts thanked Hannah for coming onto their show to talk about the video, Lilly found her attention once again captured by the aroma of bacon. She hungrily grabbed a few more pieces of bacon and stuffed them into her mouth, drawing an open stare from Luanne.

"You always eat like that?" Luanne asked. She was a bit hesitant to reach for the plate now, as she valued all her fingers.

Lilly mumbled something around a mouthful of bacon, then she swallowed and more clearly said, "Only when I'm really hungry." Then she grinned and said, "Nah, I was just doing that to get you!" She got up and went into the kitchen to fix herself a drink. "So did you and Ron have a nice time last night?"

"Yeah, we really did," Luanne said. "Your parents are really nice, by the way."

"Yeah, they're pretty darn terrific," Lilly agreed as she walked back over to the couch with a glass of milk. "They didn't even bat an eye when Miley and I told 'em we were in love."

"Well," Luanne said as she looked over at Lilly, "we sorta told 'em the same kind of thing yesterday." As Lilly gave Luanne a more attentive look, she continued, "I mean, we went over for lunch, but then we got to talkin' and I spent most of the day over there, even after Ron had to go to work." Luanne looked back over at the television, then she placed her glass down on the coffee table. "Lilly, can I ask your opinion about something?"

The way Luanne tended to unconsciously turn her Tennessee accent on and off still unsettled Lilly at times. While Miley's accent waxed and waned, it was always present to some degree. But Luanne could suppress hers to the point that it was nearly unnoticeable, or she could manifest an accent as thick as it had been when Lilly had first met her years ago. "Sure, Lu. You can always ask me anything, you know that."

Luanne turned to look at Lilly, and for the span of a few seconds Lilly could see just how different the woman she loved was from the woman sitting next to her. The pain and the fear lurking behind the brilliant, calculating mind were visible for a brief glimpse, then just as suddenly Luanne clamped down on them and buried them again deep in her mind. "I don't think I'm going to tell Ron that Miley and I are really sisters. Or any of your family, or Jackson. I'm just not--" She stopped and looked away again.

Lilly was torn about how to respond. She hesitated, but then she reached out and took Luanne's hand. That simple gesture seemed to give Luanne the strength to continue.

"I'm just not ready to deal with explaining everything to anybody else," she said numbly. "Not Ron, not your parents, not my family, not Jackson, not your friend Oliver, and not... Uncle Robbie. _Especially_ not Uncle Robbie."

"You don't have to tell anyone, Lu," Lilly said. "And Miley and I will never tell anyone else either. We swore to you back then, and we'll keep that secret for the rest of our lives if that's how you want it."

"I don't _know_ exactly what I want," Luanne said as a tear ran down her left cheek, "but for right now I think it'll keep things a lot simpler to just not tell anyone." She sniffed as she wiped her eye, then she turned to look at Lilly again, and once again those eyes were haunted, revealing the anguish Luanne somehow carried around with her every day without it consuming her alive. "I've lied so much in my life," she said, "and I don't want to lie to Ron! I love him, Lilly! I mean it, I really love him! He's been so sweet, so kind, so funny... But am I doing something terrible by keeping this secret from him? I mean, I've been honest with him about the terrible things I've done, but I've _never_ mentioned this to him. Not ever."

The confusion on Luanne's face hit Lilly squarely in the gut. "Luanne, I... I'm not sure what the right thing is about that. I think you'd know better than I would if it was right to tell him or not tell him."

"Well, it doesn't feel right to tell him. Not now, maybe not ever. Things are calm now, and I don't want to screw that up. I mean, I'm getting along with my daddy now," she said, a hint of pride on her face. She rolled her eyes and laughed once. "Well, you know who I mean. With him and Noel."

Lilly smiled at the mention of Luanne's stepmother. "She really seems to enjoy spending time with you."

"She does, and that's helped a lot, believe you me. Heck, if it wasn't for her, I couldn't even spend five minutes in that old house without runnin' out screamin'!" She shivered and added, "But I still don't like goin' in there. I'm tryin' to get 'em to sell that old place and move."

"Too many bad memories?" Lilly said softly.

Luanne nodded, unable to speak as tears ran down her cheeks.

The two of them stayed like they were for several minutes, Luanne waging an internal battle with the demons of her past as Lilly silently willed all the strength and support she could to her sister-in-law. Finally the tears slowed, and Luanne turned to Lilly and said, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Lilly added, giving Luanne a warm smile. "That's what sisters are for."

Luanne smiled in return, and now with that smile Lilly could see more similarities than differences between the two twins. "Miley did good in getting you," Luanne said. "I only hope I can do half as good with your brother."

Lilly lightly chewed her lip, a habit she had picked up from Miley, as she thought. Making up her mind, she asked, "You know, Oliver and Ashley are going out with Miley and me on a date tomorrow. You think that you and Ron might want to join us?"

"I'll ask him and see," Luanne said, smiling even more brightly now. "But _I'd_ love to."

Lilly clapped her hands happily as she said, "Yay!" She stood and picked up the now-empty plate. "I'll take this back to the kitchen," she said as she did just that. "When my rock star gets back in, will you tell her that I'm upstairs doing laundry?"

"Can do," Luanne said as she gave Lilly one more smile. As soon as Lilly had dashed up the stairs, however, that smile instantly disappeared. _Lilly, Miley, Ashely and Oliver all together. NOT good. And I can't tell them why, either._ "Dammit," she swore softly. _Looks like Ron and I are most definitely going to be there._

Luanne stood and walked over to the bookshelf against the wall that held nothing but framed pictures. She picked up one of Miley, Lilly and her taken the previous Christmas in Tennessee. She and Miley both had their hair full of snow with quite a bit splattered on their sweaters; Lilly, on the other hand, had no snow anywhere on her. She had definitely won the snowball fight, but right after that picture had been taken, she and Miley had tackled Lilly and rubbed her face in the snow.

A smile crossed Luanne's face yet again, this one spontaneous and unbidden. It no longer felt unusual to smile, and she was very thankful for that. _Miley and Lilly gave me my life back, not just physically but emotionally. I can never repay them enough for that, but they'd both swear I didn't owe 'em anything. What they have is so precious and so wonderful that it has to be protected. And maybe what Ron and I have might just bloom into a love like theirs some day._

She turned and walked across the living room and stepped out onto the back porch. She stepped off and walked the short distance across the grass to the sand of the beach, thrilling again at how the sand felt as it squirmed its way between her toes as she walked. She made her way down to the beach and stopped just in the surf, enjoying the sensation of the last vestiges of waves lapping across her bare feet. She bowed her head and closed her eyes as she quickly prayed.

"Lord, please be with my sisters this weekend, and please be with me. Keep us all safe and watch over us. And Lord, if there's any way possible, don't let them have to find out the other reason I came out here."

**Author's Afterword:** It felt good to have Luanne back, didn't it? We should be seeing quite a bit more of her for the rest of this story, I think. I'll try to get back to the weekly updates for the next few chapters if possible; I think everyone understands at how school starting back up can throw our schedules off. See you soon, and I hope school gets off to a good start for those of you still in it!

-- Jo --


	18. Chapter 18: Fighting Fate

**Author's Note:** Okay, I'm a bit embarrassed because I had missed three typos in the previous chapters, one of which resulted in a continuity error (bad author! Bad!)... or maybe Luanne was just _really_ emotional when she included Kaela in a list of people she didn't want to share her secret with. After all, we all know that Kaela is already aware of Luanne being Miley's twin sister, since the girls told her the night before Miley and Lilly's wedding. That glaring continuity error is now fixed, along with the two typos. Thanks for the terrific reviews, and it's fun to see everyone's thoughts about what Luanne's "other" reason for being in Malibu is. Time to see how close your theories are... Oh, and there are a few rapid scene changes in this chapter. I tried to keep some sense of transition between them to indicate how they fit together in terms of timing, so hopefully that'll make it a smoother read as the story shifts from couple to couple.

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_ Also, if you'd like to review the Cast of Characters, it's located at the beginning of Chapter 11. If not, then happy reading!

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 18: Fighting Fate

_I'm so mad at you right now_

_I can't even find the words_

_And you're on the way down_

_I can't wait to see you burn_

--The Veronicas; "Revenge Is Sweeter (Than You Ever Were)"

"Wow, check out the glamour girl!" Lilly said appreciatively as Luanne walked into their bedroom. Luanne twirled once, tossing up the hem of her burgundy dress and revealing a hint of her thighs. It was Saturday night in Malibu, and the girls had decided to go on their group date tonight instead of tomorrow afternoon.

"Are you sure no one's gonna recognize this dress as one that Hannah wore once?" Luanne asked skeptically.

"No way," Miley said, dismissing the possibility with a wave of her hand. "I had on a silver shirt and blue jeans under it, plus a big white leather belt and a couple necklaces over it. Trust me, there ain't _nobody_ that could recognize that dress under all that stuff."

"I really like it, Miles. Thanks for letting me wear it." Luanne smiled as she looked again at the simple knee-length dress in the mirror. Her glasses that she was wearing had a deep red frame so dark that it was nearly black, but when paired with the dress the hint of color stood out nicely next to her face. Her hair had grown out slightly but still fell a bit short of her shoulders; currently it was a few shades darker than her and Miley's natural hair color with a scattering of cinnamon highlights. Luanne tended to change hair colors rather frequently, often stating that she'd had one color most of her life and now it was time to try more.

"Any time, Lu," Miley said cheerily. She and Lilly were quite excited about tonight's group date, as it would give them a chance to see how Luanne and Ron interacted with each other. They had decided to go back to Allegria, the restaurant she and Lilly had taken Jackson and Kaela to on their first double date. Luanne had heard about the restaurant several times, and she was eager to go there herself.

"What time is Ron picking you up?" Lilly asked.

"He said he'd be by here at five," Luanne said. "What time is it now?"

"Five," Miley said as she looked at the clock.

"Hm," Luanne said, making a show of tapping her foot. As the three girls laughed, they heard the doorbell ring, making them laugh even harder.

"You're training him!" Lilly said, an incredulous look on her face. "My brother, on time... I just can't believe it."

"Believe it," Miley said with a grin. "The Stewart women can be _very_ persuasive."

"Okay," Luanne said, "Ron had some place he wanted to take me first, then we'll meet you two at the restaurant by six-forty-five."

"See you there, Lu," Miley said as she gave her sister a hug.

"Make sure Ron drives slow," Lilly said as she also hugged Luanne.

"I will," Luanne said. As she left the room, she turned around and paused, then finally said, "See you two soon. Be careful, okay?"

"We will," Lilly said quickly. "Now go on!" she added, shooing Luanne out of the room as she closed the door behind her.

The next thirty minutes sped by as Miley and Lilly finished getting themselves ready. Miley was wearing a soft pink tank top and khaki shorts with her orange and white bikini underneath, just in case they wound up at the beach later. Lilly had hinted that a moonlight swim might be fun, and Miley had spread the word. She had even packed Luanne's blue bikini just in case, while Lilly had stuffed several towels into their beach bag before carrying it out to their car earlier in the evening. Lilly was wearing a striped t-shirt with most of its hues being brown, pink, gray and white, with a pair of her light brown surfer shorts. Underneath she had a floral print pink and light blue bikini, one of her outfits with a slightly racy cut on the bottoms. She tended to save them for special occasions, since Miley could easily get possessive when Lilly's well-toned butt was on display. Both girls were wearing tennis shoes, which could be easily kicked off for the beach but were altogether more acceptable in restaurants than flip-flops. When the girls were finally ready to go, they grabbed their purses and hurried down the stairs.

"We're gone, Daddy!" Miley called out as she hurried across the living room.

"Bye bud, bye Lilly," Robbie Ray said as he remained fixed to the television.

"Bye Mr. S!" Lilly yelled as she ran to catch up with Miley, slamming the door behind her as they went out.

As Ron's silver Chevrolet Malibu—yes, he realized the humor in having a car with the same name as the city he lived in, but it was affordable and got him where he wanted to go—sped down the road, Luanne found herself gazing out the window at the ocean, visible in the distance from their current location. _I can't believe I'm thinking this, but this is SO not good. I mean, I wanted to do something with Miley and Lilly, but now I just can't help but worry. Is it tonight?_

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt Ron's warm hand encircle hers. "Hey beautiful," he said softly. "What's got you so worried?"

She forced a smile onto her face in an attempt to deflect his question. "Just wanting everything to go right tonight," she said smoothly. And that was true. _Why can't I tell him?_ She turned to look back out the window. _Because it would be too much for him, at least at this point. Well, if I have to tell him, then I will. But maybe it won't get to that point. _"Are we close to the restaurant?"

Ahead at Allegria, Oliver and Ashley had just arrived, a bit early. Ashley smoothly guided her Mercedes CLK550 convertible into a parking place near the back of the restaurant.

"Worried somebody's gonna scratch your paint?" Oliver asked with a smirk as the lights from a car parking beside them played across his face.

Ashley gave him a serious look before saying, "Uh, _yes_. Took forever to get this shade of blue in, and I don't want somebody--" Her words were halted by the sound of a dull thump coming from Oliver's side of the car, where the door of the car parked next to them had just slammed into the side of Ashley's new Mercedes. "Oh, you have _GOT_ to be _kidding me_!" Ashley shrieked as she jumped out of the car, not even grabbing her keys in her haste.

Oliver carefully opened his door so as not to slam into the other car, squeezing out until he could stand. He managed to get out, "What is--" before a fist slammed into his solar plexus, forcing the air from his lungs for a moment and leaving him gasping as he fell to the ground. Oliver managed to pull his hand from his pocket but then froze as he looked up, scarcely believing his eyes.

Ashley was already around the back of her car, cursing not-so-silently when she saw Oliver double over. She started to run toward him when the figure who had just punched him turned and grabbed her by the wrist. As recognition dawned in her mind, Ashley felt herself slammed against her own car as she felt two cold metal prongs against the side of her neck.

"Well, well," said Amber Addison with a sneer as she held Ashley from behind, "looks like you two are dressed for a night on the town. Shame neither of you is going to make it."

Fifteen minutes later, Miley and Lilly pulled into Allegria's parking lot in their obsidian black Tesla Roadster. "You see anybody's car?" Miley asked as she looked for a parking place. "Crowded tonight."

"Saturday night, Miles," Lilly said with a grin. "That's why we called ahead for reservations, remember?"

"Yup," Miley said, finally deciding on a parking place farther away from the restaurant. They climbed out of the car and held hands as the two of them walked across the parking lot.

"I don't see Ron's car here yet," Lilly said as she looked around. "Don't see Oliver's truck or Ashley's car either. Well, _any_ of Ashley's cars," she added with a smile.

"How many does she have now?"

"Three that I know of. Oliver hasn't mentioned her getting any more."

Miley shook her head. "Not sure I understand having three of the same kind a' car," she said. "I mean, a car and a truck? That I get. An everyday car and a four-wheel-drive? Makes sense if you have lots a' bad weather. But three cars? Uh uh." She shook her head as she stepped inside while Lilly held the door open for her. When Lilly was inside as well, they walked over to the hostess stand to check in. "Truscott, party of six," Miley said pleasantly to the young man serving as host.

He looked down his list and smiled. "It'll be just a few minutes," he said. "Is the rest of your party here?"

"Not yet," Lilly said. She looked at her watch. "But they should've been by now," she grumbled.

As she and Miley sat on one of the soft benches in the lobby, Lilly pulled out her phone and dialed Oliver's number. "That's weird," she said after a few seconds as she ended the call.

"What?" Miley asked, turning to look at her wife.

"Went straight to his voice mail." Lilly frowned. "He never turns his phone off." She turned to look at Miley. "Think he's having trouble with his phone?"

"He coulda dropped the dang thing as far as we know, or just let the battery run out," Miley said with a sigh. "Try Ashley."

Lilly called up Ashley's number and returned the phone to her ear. "Same thing," she said as she ended that call as well. "Now that's _really_ weird."

"Yeah, Ashley pretty much sleeps with her phone. No way she'd let it die." Miley chewed softly on her bottom lip as she thought. "Call Ashley's mom," she said after a few seconds. She was beginning to get an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, one that she knew was echoed inside Lilly as well.

Lilly dutifully called up that number, then listened as the phone rang. "Hey Kim," she said when Ashley's mother picked up the phone. "This is Lilly. Listen, has Ashley left yet for our date tonight?"

Miley watched and listened as Lilly talked on the phone. Lilly nodded several times, then she said, "Well, we're here at the restaurant right now, and there's no sign of them. What are they driving?" After a few more seconds, Lilly said, "Okay, then I guess we'll just keep trying to call them." She ended the call, then she turned to look at Miley. "She said that Ashley and Oliver left there over half an hour ago. They're driving her new convertible."

Miley felt her queasiness grow slightly. "That's plenty of time for them to get here. Ashley's house is only five or six minutes from here."

Lilly's face paled. "You think they might have been in a wreck?" she asked quietly.

"I hope not," Miley replied. "But I think we need to do more than just wait on 'em."

Lilly nodded in agreement. They stood and stepped over to the host stand. "We're going to go call our friends and see if they're on their way yet," Lilly told the host, who nodded and made a note on his reservation list. Once that was done, she and Miley hurried outside. "I'm calling Ron to see if he's heard from them," Lilly said as they began walking to their Roadster.

Miley nodded and pulled out her own phone. "I'll try Ashley again," she said. She was vaguely aware of Lilly talking to her brother as she got Ashley's recording that again indicated she was unavailable. "Unavailable, my butt," Miley muttered as they reached their car, nearly at the far end of the parking lot. As she crossed to the passenger side, something on the ground two parking places down caught her eye.

"We're going to drive down to her house and make sure nothing's happened to them," Lilly finished telling her brother as she reached the driver's door. "Yeah, when you get here just go ahead and have them seat you. They might have just stopped for gas or something, and someone needs to be here in case we pass them." She noticed Miley hurry over to another parking place and pick something up off the ground. "'Kay, bye," Lilly said, ending the call and dropping her phone back in her pocket. "Whatcha got, Miles?" she called out as Miley stood and turned.

Miley walked back to the car, holding the object out in front of her. Lilly could hear the jingle of keys as Miley approached. She walked around the car to Miley, who dropped the keys into her palm. "Not just any keys," Miley said, her voice shaky.

Lilly looked down at her palm, instantly recognizing the distinctive charms attached to the keyring: two small silver stars, one with a picture of Hannah Montana and one with a picture of Lola Montana, a dark gray Batman symbol and a red-and-yellow Superman logo. "Oliver's keys," Lilly said, her mouth dry as a grave as her eyes met Miley's.

"What did Lilly want?" Luanne asked as Ron clicked his phone shut. Since he had addressed the caller as Sis, it was a safe bet that he was talking to Lilly and not Miley. They were still several minutes away from the restaurant, as Ron had driven Luanne across town to show her where his band would be playing next month.

"She said that Oliver and Ashley weren't there yet, and that they were going to drive back towards Ashley's house to see if they had maybe stopped along the way somewhere."

Ron continued to talk about how he had yet to meet Ashley, but Luanne wasn't hearing him. Instead she was thinking hurriedly, trying to put this new information into perspective. _It's nothing. They just stopped for gum or something. And Miley and Lilly are fine._ She focused again on Ron as they drew near the restaurant, trying to banish her worries from her mind and failing rather miserably.

Several minutes earlier, Ashley's metallic Capri blue Mercedes eased into the driveway at the Addison home.

"Nice and slow," said Amber to Oliver as he gently parked the car. "And keep your hands on the wheel until I say so, or I zap sweet little Ashley." She was leaning against the back of the passenger seat, keeping her stun gun pressed to the side of Ashley's neck. As Oliver turned off the ignition, Amber cooed, "Such a good boyfriend. So concerned for his girl. Now keep your left hand on the wheel and take the keys out with your right hand." As Oliver did so, she then added, "Toss them in the floor at Ashley's feet." Once that was also accomplished, she smiled again. "Gooood," she purred. "Now you just sit right there, hands on the wheel, while we step out of the car." She then focused on Ashley and said, "You try anything when you get out and I'll kill both of you."

Ashley swallowed. She believed Amber's words completely. _She's gone totally insane. Just play along, stall for time. Somebody will figure out that something's wrong when we don't show up._

"Open the door and slowly step outside, Ash."

Ashley did as Amber commanded, sorely missing her cell phone. Taking it and Oliver's phone and turning them off had been one of the first things Amber had done. As Ashley stepped out of the car, she once again took a position behind Ashley.

"Now it's your turn, stud," Amber said as they walked around to the front of the car. "And if you're thinking of trying something, you should know that this stun gun isn't the only thing I'm carrying. If you try to run or fight me, I promise you that my BFF here will regret it for the last few minutes she has left." As Oliver slowly got out of the car, Amber jerked her chin toward the front door. "Inside, now and slow." Oliver led the way, with Ashley and Amber several steps behind her.

As they reached the door, Oliver hesitated. "How do I know you're not just planning on killing us anyway?"

_Good question_, Ashley thought. She felt Amber tense up behind her, then her left arm was painfully jerked behind her and twisted up against her back. "AH!" she cried out.

"You do what I say, and I swear on my mother's grave that both of you will walk out of here alive," Amber said coldly.

Ashley struggled to stand up straight, but the pain in her left arm was bringing tears to her eyes. "Your mom's not..." she gasped, "...not dead."

Amber's grip loosened slightly on Ashley's arm before wrenching it up even more painfully than before. "She is now," she whispered, sending chills down Ashley's spine. "Inside, loser boy."

A few miles away, Miley and Lilly sped down the road to Ashley's house. As they reached the large house Ashley shared with her mother Kimiyo, Lilly stopped the car at the foot of the driveway. "Nothing the whole way here," she said. "No wrecks, no traffic jams, and no sign of them stopped at any of the gas stations."

As Miley turned to look at Lilly, her face somber, she said, "Okay, let's think about this. They get to the restaurant. We know that."

"And Oliver drops his keys, probably getting out of the car," Lilly replied. "But why wouldn't he notice them falling and then pick them up?"

"Maybe he couldn't pick them up. Maybe he threw them at somebody. Maybe he dropped them on purpose." Miley shrugged her shoulders.

"So somebody would find them?" Lilly asking, trying to think this through out loud. "Nah, that sounds too ridiculous."

"It's a lot more likely that either he didn't know he dropped them or he didn't _get_ to pick them up, Lil."

"Maybe somebody carjacked them," Lilly said quietly after a brief pause. Her heart ached at the very thought of someone hurting their friends, but it was a possibility that needed to be considered.

"Malibu ain't exactly the crime hotspot of California, Lilly," Miley said, giving her a humorous look before fear flashed across her face.

Lilly felt the cold daggers of that fear inside her own chest, telling her clearly the intensity of Miley's sudden reaction. "What is it, Miles? What the heck has got you so freaked out?" she asked, her voice's pitch rising.

"A bad feelin', Lil. A really, _really_ bad feelin'."

Lilly motioned for Miley to continue as she hurriedly said, "Share, please!"

Miley slowly said, "Who would have something against both Oliver and Ashley _and_ be crazy enough to do something about it?"

Lilly's face paled as she saw where her best friend was going with her line of thinking. She turned to look out the windshield and stomped on the gas pedal, sending the Roadster scooting forward instantly as she made for Amber's house as fast as the car would take them.

As Amber directed Oliver and Ashley up the stairs to her room, Ashley was struck by how quiet the mansion was. No lights were on anywhere that she could tell, adding to the eerie stillness of the house.

"Down the hall," Amber said, directing Oliver where to go as she continued to press the end of the stun gun into Ashley's ribs. "That's it, just go on in," she said as Oliver stopped at the door at the end of the hall.

Oliver stepped into the darkened room. "Can I at least turn on a freaking light?" he asked, anger in his voice bleeding through.

"Of course," Amber said with her falsely sweetened voice.

Oliver felt around for a light switch and finally flipped it on, giving the room some dim lighting from two lamps in the corners of the room.

"Now," Amber said to Oliver, "go over there to that chair and stand behind it. Oh, and be sure to pick up the handcuffs sitting in it." Once Oliver had done so, Amber pushed Ashley forward slightly. "Ash is going to go sit down in that chair and then put her arms behind it, so you can cuff her arms together behind the chair back." As Ashley turned to look at Amber, Amber not only pointed the stun gun at her but also pulled a rather large knife out of her purse. "Try something in here and it gets messy," Amber said coldly. "For both of you."

Oliver's feet refused to move, but he said, "I can take you in a fair fight, Amber."

"I don't fight fair," Amber sneered back. "And I'll cut her first," she added, pointing the knife's tip at Ashley's stomach. "But like I said, as long as you two play nice, then both of you walk out of here alive."

"We don't have a choice, Ollie," Ashley said as she slowly walked to the chair, turned and then sat down. She stretched her arms back behind her for him to fasten the handcuffs.

"Cuff them _right_, Oken," Amber said. "If I check them and find you left them loose or something, then I might just lose my temper."

Oliver hesitated before he fastened the first cuff on Ashley's left wrist. He proceeded to close the cuff securely around that wrist, but he wondered desperately if he should do the same with other cuff. He carried a master handcuff key on his keyring (an unknowing "gift" from his mother), but he had deliberately dropped his keys when he fell in the parking lot at Allegria in the hopes that Miley or Lilly would find them. It was a long shot, but it was all he could manage at the time.

"OLLIE!"

Ashley's cry made Oliver look up to see Amber standing beside Ashley, holding the knife to her throat. She was clever enough to keep Ashley between the two of them, preventing Oliver from charging her. "Lock the other one too," she said icily. "It'd totally suck if something happened to poor little Ash now."

Oliver looked back down and hoped that this wasn't a mistake as he locked the other cuff around Ashley's right wrist. _If I don't do it, then she'll kill Ash for sure. Playing along for now might at least give me a chance later to jump her._

"Good boy."

Oliver stood as Amber backed away, still keeping the knife pointed at Ashley. "At the headboard of the bed, handcuff your right arm with the cuff already there," Amber said, gesturing to the bed with the knife. "Climb across it to get there." As Oliver did so and latched the handcuff around his right wrist, she said, "Sit and turn around here." As Oliver turned around to look at Amber, she jabbed him with the stun gun and hit the trigger.

"OLIVER!" Ashley screamed as she heard the terrible crackle of electricity popping into her boyfriend. She watched him twitch madly atop the bed, finally stopping after several convulsions. She started crying, sobbing as she pulled against the handcuffs holding her against the back of the chair, but the chair's narrow back at her waist tapered into a wide back at her shoulders, and there was no way to slide the handcuffs off the chair's back.

"Wow, that was fun," Amber said, grinning with manic glee. With Oliver in no shape to resist, she grabbed his left arm and pulled it to the other bedpost, securing it with another set of handcuffs already in place there. She placed the stun gun and knife at the foot of the bed, then she reached under the bed and grabbed a coil of rope she had placed there earlier. "This is going to be so much fun, Ash. Just like old times, right, when we'd screw each other's boyfriend?"

"Don't remind me, Amber," Ashley spit through her tears. "Thinking about when I was your little sidekick makes me want to puke!"

Amber quickly tied the rope around both of Oliver's ankles, securing it with two solid knots, then she tied the rope off at the foot of the bed. Once she was satisfied, she stood back up. "Oh, come on! You enjoyed it, too," she said to her former friend.

"If I remember right," Ashley said, sniffing as she tried to recover some self-control, "it was always _you_ that got to screw _my_ boyfriends, not the other way around." As she saw Amber's smile flicker for a minute, Ashley pressed the attack. "But then you were always too fucking selfish to share _anything_!"

Amber surged forward and smacked Ashley across the face with her right hand, the _pop_ of contact ringing through Ashley's entire head. "You'll regret that, Ash," she said coldly. Amber stepped back and crawled on top of the bed. "I'm going to fuck your little boyfriend while you have to watch. Then every time the two of you are together from now on, you'll be reminded that I screwed him right here in front of you, and there wasn't a damn thing either of you could do about it."

As Miley and Lilly pulled into the driveway at Amber's house, their headlights played over the rear of Ashley's metallic blue Mercedes. "Bingo," Miley muttered grimly as Lilly brought the car to a halt just inside the driveway and killed the ignition. A single light was on in the entire house, shining out of a second floor window.

"What are we gonna do, Miles?" Lilly asked as she turned to look at her wife. "For all we know, Amber's got them at gunpoint."

Miley pulled out her phone. "I call the cops, you text Lu." She opened the door and got out as she dialed.

Lilly hurriedly composed a text and sent it to Luanne as she heard Miley give the police the address. She noted grimly that Miley specifically told the police that she thought Amber was armed. Lilly was about to say something else when the two of them heard a scream come from inside the house. Even muffled by the walls and windows, the cry of anguish was clearly audible to the two young women.

"Get here as fast as you can," Miley said quickly before she ended the call and took off after Lilly, who was already running to the front door.

Back at Allegria, Ron and Luanne pulled into the parking lot. Luanne still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. If anything, that feeling had gotten worse over the last few minutes. Suddenly she felt her phone vibrate. She pulled it out and called up the incoming text message.

_Lu_

_Amber hs Ash n Oli at her house_

_Miles called th cops_

_We r already here_

_Lil_

"Oh shit," Luanne said as she felt everything go numb. "Shit shit SHIT!" she said, her voice rising with each word.

"What's wrong?" Ron said, startled by his girlfriend's sudden outburst.

Luanne spun her head to look at Ron. "How fast can you get us to Amber's house?" she hurriedly asked.

"Amber's house? That snob who hates Lilly and Miley?"

"Yes, yes! Get us there now!"

"I have no idea where she lives!"

Luanne felt her heart pound. There was no time to argue, not when things were falling apart like this. "Then move! I'll drive!" she said forcefully as she scooted toward him, climbing over him to take the driver's position.

As Luanne started the car, Ron's head was spinning. "But-- Wait a minute, how the heck do _you_ know where Amber lives?"

"Finding her house was the first thing I did when I got to Malibu," Luanne said calmly as she spun the car around, shifting into drive and hitting the gas to send the small car surging out of the parking lot. "I always keep tabs on anybody who could cause me or my family trouble." As she slid the car onto the road, deftly finding a lane that allowed her to pass another car ahead of them as she continued to accelerate, she said, "You watch for cops."

"That's gonna take me actually opening my eyes!" he yelled in return as he clutched the door handle and hoped that his crazy but beautiful girlfriend didn't get them killed or thrown in jail. Explaining that one to his mom and dad would be tricky.

As Miley ran to the door, she saw Lilly change angles and run straight at the door. "Lilly, try the--" She stopped as Lilly hurtled her body into the door with a thump before bouncing off and falling onto the porch. As Lilly got to her feet, Miley ran forward and pressed the door latch, opening the door easily. "--Door first," Miley finished, smiling at her girlfriend.

"That never works in real life," Lilly grumbled as she rushed inside.

"Neither does breaking down the door," Miley grumbled in an excellent imitation of Lilly's voice as she followed Lilly inside. "Where are the stairs?" she whispered loudly.

Lilly quickly walked down the hall, there she hissed, "Here!" to Miley.

Miley hurried over to Lilly as they raced up the stairs together. At the end of the hall, light spilled out of a room, casting a warm glow into the dark hallway. As they crept towards the room, they heard in quick succession a _thump_ and a woman's sharp cry, followed by a crisp _smack_ and the sound of someone—or something—falling loudly to the ground. Before Miley could say anything, Lilly was off and running again.

As Miley and Lilly entered the upstairs hallway, Amber finished pulling Oliver's pants down as she straddled him on the bed. She had stuffed a pair of her panties into his mouth as another humiliation for him and Ashley, and now she started to undo the buttons on her pants. "I set up a video camera over there," Amber said cruelly as she turned to look at a dresser on the other side of the room, but before she could turn back around Ashley surged to her feet, chair and all, and slammed the tall chair's back into Amber's ribs with all the force she could muster.

As the chair thumped into Amber's side, the taller girl couldn't help but cry out as the shock of pain lanced into her left side. She whirled and punched Ashley savagely, sending the smaller girl tumbling to the ground with the large chair. But before Amber could pick up either the knife or the stun gun, the slightly ajar door slammed open as a blonde ball of fury thundered into the room and tackled Amber, taking both of them off the bed and onto the floor.

Lilly made sure Amber bore the brunt of the fall, twisting to land solidly on the much taller girl. As she heard Amber gasp for air, Lilly didn't even bother to stand back up before she landed the first punch on Amber's face, then the second, then the third.

Miley raced into the room right behind Lilly, in time to see her girlfriend take Amber to the ground solidly. She hurriedly glanced around the room, taking in Ashley handcuffed into a chair and lying on her side in the floor, spitting and cursing as she struggled to get free. She then looked at the bed, seeing Oliver handcuffed to the bed and then-- "WHOA!! I did _not_ need to see that," she said to herself as she shielded her eyes from where Oliver's pants had been pulled down to his knees.

"Get me out of these things!" Ashley screamed. "I want a piece of that bitch!"

Miley took another look at Amber and Lilly, and she couldn't help but grin as she saw Lilly stand to her feet, then drop to her knees in the middle of Amber's chest, sending the air out of Amber's lungs yet again and forcing a cry of pain from their former classmate as Lilly grabbed her head and slammed it against the wooden floor. Miley managed to grab Ashley's cuffs as she frantically searched along Oliver's keys for a particular item. "For once in my life, I'm not embarrassed to have a friend who carries a master key for handcuffs on his keyring," Miley said to herself as she located the slender object and quickly unlocked the cuffs. As soon as one wrist was free, Ashley pulled her arms out from behind the chair and scrambled across the floor to where Lilly and Amber were still fighting.

Miley got to her feet and quickly unlocked Oliver's right arm, handing him the key so he could unlock his other wrist. "I suggest you get them pants up first thing," she said as she pulled the red panties out of his mouth, instantly tossing them on the floor. "Eeew! That is _totally_ gross!" she said as she wiped her hand on her pants.

Oliver did indeed pull his pants up, then he ran to the foot of the bed and grabbed the knife. He forcefully threw it through the window with a crash, sending it far out of Amber's reach. The stun gun then followed the knife out the window. "Come on, Miles! We have to get Ashley and Lilly and get the hell out of this house!" he yelled as he grabbed Ashley and pulled her off Amber.

"I—am—not—through—with—_her!_" Ashley cried out, still kicking at Amber as Oliver drug her across the room.

"Yes, you are!" Oliver replied, pushing her through the door. "Outside, now!"

"LILLY!" Miley cried out as she saw Oliver and Ashley run out of the room.

Lilly stood and grabbed a lamp on the dresser, smashing it down onto Amber forcefully with a loud crash. "Okay, I'm good now," Lilly said as she ran away from Amber and back to her best friend.

Miley noted a tear in Lilly's shirt, exposing some of her stomach, but other than that she didn't detect any sign of Amber inflicting damage on her wife. She nodded as she took Lilly's hand, then the two of them ran out of the room and down the hall as fast as they could.

As Luanne came screeching around the corner onto Amber's street, she numbly noted the presence of a police car parked at the street. She saw the officer turn to look at her as she slammed on the brakes at the foot of the driveway. _Hopefully he won't shoot me_, she thought numbly as she slammed the transmission into Park, kicked the door open and jumped out of the car, kicking off her shoes as she began to run.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Luanne ran madly toward the house, ignoring the shouts of both the officer and Ron. As her feet fell onto the neatly manicured grass, she saw what seemed like a slide show of images that had haunted her nightmares for the last three weeks:

_The front door of a stone mansion opening, seemingly in slow motion. _

_Ashley and Oliver running out of the door, Ashley screaming as tears ran down her face. _

_Oliver's face twisted with exertion, his arms pumping as he urged Ashley to run faster. _

_Police lights playing red and blue across the stark white porch, giving the scene a startling stop-motion quality. _

Luanne forced herself to run faster, faster than she ever had in her life. Everything beside her and behind her ceased to exist, only her pounding heartbeat and bare feet slamming against the ground remained, save for the images still playing out in front of her. _Why show me these things if I can't do a damn thing to stop them?_ she thought angrily. She kept watching the open door, waiting for the next few images that she had seen over and over for most of the past month, each time ending in her waking from sleep coated with a film of cold sweat, her mouth open in a silent scream.

_Miley running out of the open door, hair stretched out behind her as she jumped off the porch at a full run._

Still at full speed, Luanne angled toward the spot right behind where her sister would be, knowing exactly where her nightmare always ended.

_Lilly bursting through the open door, yelling something to Miley as she too leaped off the porch._

Luanne's eyes began to water as she felt the inexorable hands of fate tighten their grip around her. The scene was playing out the way it always did, night after agonizing night.

_Amber stepping into the doorway. Her arm slowly raising to point the gun at the figures running away from her._

Luanne felt fury flood her body, propelling her even faster as she raced toward Lilly. _This is NOT going to end the way it's supposed to, even if I have to die to stop it! _Luanne's peripheral vision faded to black, but she already knew what she would have seen had she taken the time to look at the door again.

_Amber's mouth curling into a final cruel smile as she squeezes the trigger._

Luanne felt her body stumbling, starting to fall as a result of running too fast for her feet to keep up with her legs. With her last effort, she sent her body flying forward, tackling Lilly waist-high and sending them both to the grass as the sound of a gunshot echoed through the yard. Luanne felt the whiz of the bullet passing just above her back, right where Lilly had been running a split-second earlier. As the two of them rolled across the yard, Luanne heard the gunshots of the police officer, one, two, then the third and final report, just as they always sounded in her nightmare. She looked toward the door in time to see Amber fall to the porch, gun tumbling from her limp fingers as her body collapsed.

"Lilly! Lilly!" Miley's voice called out, and then her hands were on Luanne's back, separating the two girls where they had fallen.

Luanne heard Lilly draw a gasping breath, and she finally allowed herself to smile as she rolled off of her sister-in-law to let Miley wrap Lilly in her embrace. As Miley did so, Luanne lay on her back and listened for the heartbreaking scream that she had heard her sister make time after time in her nightmares, when she saw the blood spreading across Lilly's shirt from the fatal wound.

But this time, instead of that terrible, painful cry that had quite literally haunted Luanne's nightmares, _this_ time it was Lilly's voice that came floating across the grass, saying, "I'm okay, Miles. I'm okay." And for the first time in nearly a month, Luanne let the velvet touch of unconsciousness claim her without a struggle.

Several hours later, the moon found itself shining down on six people sitting around a fire on the beach. Two young men and four young women sat in pairs around the fire, laughing as they held each other and drank their drinks of choice from Rico's. It had taken no less than three hours for the police to take their statements on what had happened at Amber's house, but when they found the video camera that Amber had set up to record her torture of Ashley and Oliver, things became more streamlined. The camera had captured all the events from the time Amber had brought Ashley and Oliver into her room, triggered by a remote she had carried with her, until the time Lilly had knocked it off the dresser by slamming Amber into it.

As Oliver's mother watched the video play, even she was disturbed by the depth of hatred that Amber had carried for Ashley and Oliver. The feelings that belonged to the mother in her won out over the professional attitude she tried hard to present, and without even thinking about it she found herself hugging her son tightly... much to his embarrassment. A search of the house had indeed found Amber's mother in the solarium, but contrary to Amber's words, she wasn't dead. She _had_ suffered an ugly head injury from where Amber had hit her with a gardening shovel, but she regained consciousness when the paramedics began working on her. Amber's father was on his way back to Malibu from a business meeting in Seattle after Oliver's mother was able to contact him and fill him in on the bittersweet news: his wife was alive, but his daughter was dead.

As Oliver snapped his phone shut, he pulled Ashley closer to him. "Mom says to thank you two again for getting there and for calling the police," he said to the two young women huddled together across the small fire from where he and Ashley sat.

"She's most definitely welcome," Miley said, fully appreciating every second of contact between her and her wife. She hadn't found the time to talk to Luanne privately just yet, but she had seen how close that bullet had come to shattering every dream she would ever have. As Miley found herself thinking about that split second where her life had seemed to stop, she saw Luanne stand from where she and Ron were sitting next to them.

Luanne knelt down and gave Ron a kiss on the lips, then she stood and looked over at Miley and Lilly. "Does anyone mind if I talk to my cousin in private for a few minutes?" she asked politely. As everyone else voiced their approval, Luanne noted with silent delight how Miley and Lilly both stood to walk with her. _They really are partners in everything. No need for Miley to ask Lilly to come with her, no need for Lilly to ask permission. Having someone else who understands you that much couldn't be any more amazing. _

As the three of them walked along the beach in the moonlight, the glittering surf washed across their feet. Once they were a safe distance away, Luanne said, "I didn't want to tell you two what I'm about to say earlier, because I didn't want you two to either freak out or think I was just making this up like one of my old plots."

"After what we been through already tonight, I don't think there's much chance of us freakin' out now, let me tell ya," Miley said quickly, getting a laugh from Lilly.

Luanne smiled. "There is that," she agreed. She took a deep breath, then blew it out. She stopped and turned, walking a few steps into the water as it washed onto the beach. She took another deep breath as she heard Miley and Lilly quietly splashing into the water behind her, stopping when they were right behind her. Luanne turned and looked at their faces as the silvery moonlight illuminated their visages, giving them a glowing quality as she looked as them. _Now or never._ "For the last three weeks, I've been... having these really weird dreams. Well, nightmares really, almost every night."

"Secret sister of mine say what?!" Miley sputtered out as Lilly's jaw dropped.

"Look, I know how it sounds," Luanne said, shaking her head, "but I've been having these nightmares damn near every night for weeks now. Each time I could see the four of you running out of that house, first Ashley and Oliver, then you, Miley, and finally Lilly. And every time I'd see Amber come to the door and lift that gun, and then--" Her voice failed her and she swallowed. She shifted her gaze to look directly at Lilly. "In my nightmares, you _died_, Lilly. Amber shot you every time, and you died every time, with Miley holding you and screaming." She looked up and saw that Miley and Lilly were both listening intently, not even seeming to breathe.

"I finally had to fly out here, but the nightmares still kept on coming every night. It was like something was trying to warn me that something bad was about to happen, and I had to do anything I could to save--"

Her words were abruptly cut off by the feeling of two pairs of arms wrapping around her and hugging her tightly. Her initial reaction at being grabbed so surprisingly was to pull back, but the four arms holding her refused to let her go. Then the feelings of love and gratitude seeped into Luanne's body, and at once she felt accepted, appreciated, respected... and most surprisingly of all, understood.

"Thank you," Miley said against Luanne's neck, her voice thick with tears. "Thank you for what you've done for us."

Lilly nodded, and Luanne could feel the motion of her sister-in-law's head against her neck. "Thank you, Luanne. You saved our family."

"You saved our future," Miley added. "And our dreams."

Now Luanne wrapped her arms around Miley and Lilly and squeezed them in return. "Okay, but don't even start that crap about how you can never repay me," she said with a lighter tone to her voice.

Miley and Lilly laughed, loosening their grip on Luanne, who likewise relaxed hers as well. "Well, we can't!" Lilly said with a smile.

"Lilly," Luanne said softly with a matching smile of her own, "you don't have to. Not ever. I finally understand that."

Miley nodded as she said, "That's what family is about." She turned to look at Lilly for a second, then they smiled and turned back to look at Luanne. "Plus this too."

At once Miley and Lilly each grabbed one of Luanne's arms and rushed forward, diving into the waves as they pushed Luanne down into the ocean, shrieking as she fell backwards into the cool salt water. Miley and Lilly then hurried to their feet and took off at a run, heading back for the safety of camp as Luanne splashed out of the surf and began to chase them, a huge grin on her happy face.

**Author's Afterword:** Oh my, that chapter was just screaming for me to get it out! But I made sure to not leave it as a cliffhanger, because that would have just been mean. I'm not sure if graduation is coming up next chapter or not, but it should be in one of the next two or three, so come prepared for "Pomp and Circumstance" to be playing. I also expect Miley and Lilly will fill Luanne in on their very own special dreams, too. See you soon!

-- Jo --


	19. Chapter 19: Eve of Change

**Author's Note:** Oh, I'm ecstatic that everyone seemed to like the last chapter so much! It meant a lot to me personally and emotionally. I thought long and hard about Amber's final fate, but in the end the story wanted justice and I acquiesced. Now it's almost time to say goodbye to a major part of our characters' lives. Just like in real life, that goodbye is full of conflicting emotions, but a new phase of life is ready and waiting.

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_ Also, if you'd like to review the Cast of Characters, it's located at the beginning of Chapter 11. If not, then happy reading!

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 19: Eve of Change

_Don't even think about what's right or wrong or wrong or right_

_'Cause in the end it's only you and me_

_And no one else is gonna be around to answer all the questions left behind_

_And you and I are meant to be so even if the world falls down today_

_You've still got me to hold you up_

_And I will never let you down_

--The Veronicas; "Untouched"

_Miley stood looking at the entrance to Seaview Elementary School for long seconds. Beside her she could hear her wife Lilly sniffling softly._

"_It came too soon, Miles," Lilly said as she wiped a few tears from her cheeks._

_Miley nodded her head. Tears were likewise trickling down her cheeks. "Yeah, it seems like time just flew by," she said in her Tennessee accent. _

"_Mommy, Momma..." said a sweet voice from between the two young women. "It's just the first day of kindergarten."_

_Miley and Lilly both looked down at their older daughter Brooke and smiled through their tears. Today was her first day of school, and the spunky little five-year-old was eager to go. Her blonde hair was long and silky like Lilly's, but her face and smile were most definitely Miley's. Her blue eyes could have come either of her mothers, all three pairs were so similar. They slowly walked into the school, carefully navigating the halls until they stood outside the room for Brooke's kindergarten class._

"_We're gonna miss you, punkin'," Miley said as she bent down to give Brooke a kiss on the top of her head._

"_Be good at school. We'll be right here waiting on you when school lets out today," Lilly added as she placed her own kiss on top of Brooke's head. _

"_I'll be good, I promise," Brooke said, a twinkle in her sparkling blue eyes. She shifted her gaze to look down at her level, then she reached forward and said, "You be good for our mommies, Sissy," as she hugged her two-year-old sister, whose curly light brown hair obviously came from Miley._

"_I be good," said the cute toddler as she gave her older sister a hug. "Bye Book!" she said with a wave as Brooke walked into the classroom without any further delay, a smile on her face._

"_Oh Lilly, I'm gonna be worried all day," Miley said longingly as the three of them slowly walked out of the school. She picked up the feisty toddler who was playfully smacking Lilly on the butt and held her with one arm as she took Lilly's right hand with her free left hand._

"_She's gonna be fine, Miles. You know it just like I do," Lilly said with a happy smile._

_Miley playfully bumped Lilly with her left hip. "I'm not worried about her, silly! I'm worried about us. What are we gonna do today?"_

"_Did I mention Mer had gotten into the Play-Doh this morning again?" Lilly asked with a grin. "On the big rug?"_

_The brunette toddler hurriedly buried her face into Miley's chest, her thick chestnut hair blending neatly with Miley's own._

"_No, you didn't..." Miley said, a smile creeping across her face as they walked to their home._

As the alarm clock went off, Miley and Lilly both stretched, then they shifted to cuddle together more tightly. Miley felt Lilly's left hand drift to cup her left breast where they lay together on the bed, Lilly's body snuggled up against Miley from behind. "Feels good," Miley mumbled as she reveled in the heated touch of her lover's body and hands.

"Me too," Lilly mumbled in reply as she nuzzled her lips against Miley's neck. "That dream was a bit different. You have it too?"

Miley ran her hand through her hair as she leaned back against Lilly. "Yeah. Kinda like we were just along for the ride on that one, huh?"

Lilly suddenly rolled Miley toward her, then she captured a long, heated kiss. After several seconds she finally released Miley, who found herself unconsciously licking her lips for more. "But it was a good ride," Lilly whispered.

"Uh huh," Miley said as she grabbed the back of Lilly's head and pulled her down for more. Between kisses, Miley breathlessly said, "You think any more about names for our girls?"

Lilly stopped kissing Miley long enough to look into her glittering blue eyes. "Well, it sounds like we went ahead with the first names we agreed on."

Miley smiled up at her wife. "Brooke and Meredith. Gotta remember our moms," she said.

"Still not sure what sounds good for the middle names, though," Lilly said as she rolled over, rolled her eyes and blew a breath up, lifting a stray lock of her hair off of her forehead.

Miley gave Lilly a gentle squeeze along her ribs, being careful to not tickle her. "I think we have some time to figure them out, Lilly Bear," she said tenderly. "Right now we need to get into the shower so we can get ready for school. Don't want to get detention our last week."

Lilly grinned as she looked back down at Miley. "Nope, that would bite," she said as she rolled off Miley and onto her feet. She turned and helped Miley up right as a knock came at their door. "We're naked!" Lilly called out, not missing a beat but also not moving; instead, she simply turned her back to the door and held Miley, shielding her wife from whomever was about to enter.

"Sure glad I knocked!!" came Dolly's voice, muffled by the door. "Got you young'uns some clean clothes, fresh out 'a the dryer!"

"Oooh, warm clothes," Lilly said, her eyes lighting up. "We'll be in the bathroom in five seconds, Aunt Dolly! Thanks!" She scooted Miley into the bathroom, getting the door closed with a full second to spare.

"You and your warm clothes," Miley said, shaking her head as she started the shower. Once that was done, she turned around to see Lilly holding out her toothbrush for her, already loaded with their purple toothpaste. "Thanks," she said with a smile.

"You're welcome," Lilly replied as she grabbed her own toothbrush. "You think we should approve that Hannah Montana toothpaste idea we got last week?"

Miley turned her head to look at Lilly while she brushed. "_NO_," she mumbled loudly around a mouth full of toothpaste, making Lilly laugh. Miley spit and then rinsed, finally putting up her toothbrush. "Toothpaste? I don't think so, Lil. I already let you do the hand soap, remember?"

Lilly rinsed and spit as well, putting her toothbrush back in the holder next to Miley's. "The squirt bottle was cute, and I liked the different colors and scents they came up with."

"You liked the sparkles," Miley said with a knowing smirk as they stepped into the shower.

"Sparkles are cute!"

Twenty-five minutes later the two young women were scrubbed, shampooed and dried. They checked to see if their bedroom was empty first; once they were assured that it was clear, they hurried out and began getting their clothes together. As Miley had expected, Lilly immediately went to the clothes basket and began digging through it, finally finding and putting on a sky blue set of panties and a bra.

"Mmmmm," Lilly hummed happily as she closed her eyes and felt the lingering warmth from the dryer still clinging to her underwear. As Miley grinned and went over to their closet, Lilly opened her eyes and then found the matching set for Miley. She followed Miley into the closet and stepped up behind her best friend as Miley was looking through the clothes. "Your panties, my lady," Lilly said dramatically, kneeling down as she stretched Miley's panties out in front of her.

"Silly Lilly," Miley said as she nonetheless carefully stepped into the underwear held out for her.

Lilly carefully slid the soft blue panties up Miley's long legs, making sure to slide the waistband to just the right height along her girlfriend's hips. "Not silly at all," Lilly said as she ran her index finger over the surface of the panties once she was done, eliciting a shiver of delight from Miley. "Not when it's making sure the woman I love is perfectly comfortable."

As Lilly stood and readied Miley's matching bra, Miley smiled and stretched her arms out for Lilly to slide the bra on, then she turned around to present her back to Lilly. "A girl could get used to this kind of pampering," Miley said as she looked over her shoulder at Lilly.

"I hope so," Lilly said as she fastened the catches on the bra, slipping her arms around Miley and grabbing her wife's shoulders with her hands as she stepped up against Miley. The heat of Miley's body was delicious, and now Lilly found herself wishing that they had a bit more time before school started.

Miley patted Lilly's right hand with her own right hand where Lilly was holding her left shoulder, arms crossed in front of Miley's chest. "I know what you're thinkin', you know," Miley said.

"What's that?"

Miley turned, embracing Lilly as Lilly shifted her grip. "You're wantin' to go back into the bedroom and make love to me," she whispered, finishing with a deep kiss for her girlfriend.

Lilly hungrily kissed back, pulling away long enough to say, "I love it when you read my mind, Miles," then she resumed kissing the woman who had captured her heart and would never, ever let it go.

Miley grinned as they paused long enough to look into each other's eyes again. "Well, to tell you the truth, I was already thinkin' it too."

"No time..." Lilly sighed as she leaned her head forward and rested it against Miley's forehead. "But we can wait until after school."

Miley grinned. "Oh yeah," she added. "This mornin' we've got to finish gettin' ready. What was today again? Jersey Day?"

Lilly nodded. "Yup. Good thing you happen to be sleeping with a member of the soccer team, huh?"

"Yes," Miley drew out the word with a hiss as she grabbed one of Lilly's soccer jerseys, the bright blue Home jersey. She slipped it on and posed for Lilly, the bottom of the jersey ending a bit above the top of her panties. "How do I look?" she asked teasingly.

"More beautiful than anything I could ever imagine," Lilly said softly, adoration evident on her face.

Miley gave Lilly a kiss on her cheek as she handed her blonde girlfriend her white Away jersey. "You're sweet," Miley said as she turned and went back into their bedroom to find a pair of shorts. "And you're pretty dang hot yourself!" she called out, loud enough for Lilly to hear inside the closet.

The morning zoomed by, and before long the girls found themselves at lunch. Miley and Lilly staked out a table and began to eat as they waited for Oliver and Ashley to join them, until Miley's Hannah Phone rang. Lilly gave her a quizzical look as Miley found and answered the phone. "Hello?" she asked.

"_Hi Hannah, this is Darcy."_

"Oh, hey Darcy," Miley said pleasantly as she looked at Lilly. Darcy Norwood was one of their executives for the Hannah and Lola Montana Foundation, and her current pet project was the HLM Foundation Celebrity Golf Pro-Am, coming up in just a few days. "How are things going?"

"_AB-solutely FAN-tastic_," Darcy said, excitedly stressing the first syllable in each word. _"We've got thirty-two teams scheduled, at least one sponsor for every hole, umpteen prizes, a ton of interest from the media, and, oh, about a bajillion people willing to donate to either play or watch the fun!"_

"Sounds great, Darcy," Miley said happily. "Be nice if we stood a chance of winning our own tournament," she added a bit glumly.

"Hey!" Lilly said, her mouth currently full of a ham and turkey sandwich. She swallowed and said, "I can play golf!"

"Yeah, but I can't!" Miley said, more to Lilly than to Darcy but both women understood what she meant.

"_Oh, but you two got two excellent players for your pros, Hannah,"_ Darcy said. _"Natalie Gulbis and Paula Creamer."_ The LPGA had been kind enough to partner with the HLM Foundation for the upcoming fundraiser, donating two playing professionals for each team. There was an audible smile in Darcy's voice as she said, _"Something tells me your foursome will have to beat the cameras away with your golf clubs."_

As Miley saw Oliver and Ashley making their way to the outdoor table she and Lilly were sitting at, she hurriedly said, "Okay Darcy, thanks for the update and all your hard work, but I kinda need to go. I'll call ya later tonight. Bye!" She hung up the phone just as Ashley's tray clattered onto the synthetic surface of the table. "Hey Ash, Ollie!"

"You two having a good day?" Lilly asked as she took Miley's hand under the table and gently squeezed it.

Miley smiled. That meant Lilly was dying to know the specifics of the phone call. She looked at Lilly and smiled and said, "I'll tell you in just a minute, but it sounded good."

"Oh, okay," Lilly said pleasantly.

Miley smiled even more. Now Lilly was wanting to know even more desperately, and it really would have been mean to not tell her. She motioned for Lilly to come closer, then she whispered into her ear, "She said we got a Natalie... Bulbous? And a Paula somebody. For our partners."

Lilly jerked back and gave Miley a funny look before leaning back over and whispering to Miley, "Natalie Gulbis?"

Miley nodded her head. "Yeah, her," she said. A grin spread across Lilly's face in return. Lilly leaned forward again to whisper in Miley's ear, and Miley once again knelt down, grinning as Oliver and Ashley stared at the two of them warily.

"Paula Creamer? Was that the other one?" Lilly whispered.

Miley nodded again. "Is that good?" she asked.

"Yeah," Lilly said with a sly grin. "Very good."

"Um, what are you two going on about with all the whispering?" Ashley said, waving a forkful of lettuce at Miley and Lilly. "Something we should know?" Suddenly she froze and dropped her fork in her plate. "Oh. My. GOD," she said dramatically. "You're both pregnant!"

Lilly and Miley both threw a potato chip at Ashley, with Lilly going one better and adding a handful of peanuts to the projectiles tossed at Ashley, who promptly squealed and ducked behind Oliver. "You are SO dead," Lilly said with a blank face. She turned to wink at Miley and then turned back to Ashley and said, "Really, it's just Miles who's pregnant."

Miley nodded and leaned against Lilly. "We decided, why wait any longer to start our family?" she said seriously. "So Lilly knocked me up last week."

Ashley's face turned a rather unhealthy-looking shade of white. "What? You mean—"

"Yup," Lilly said with a grin, trying madly to keep from laughing.

"But--" Ashley sputtered. "Whose sperm did you..."

"Oh, we didn't use anybody's sperm," Miley said. She leaned in close, getting Ashley and Oliver to lean in even closer before she whispered, "Lilly just fucked me _really, really_ hard."

Oliver began laughing madly as Ashley grabbed for the same peanuts Lilly had thrown at her, tossing them back at Miley, who was now laughing wildly with Lilly. "You bitch!" Ashley said jokingly as she looked for something else to throw. "_Oooooh!_ You two had me believing you! I should've known better!"

"Yeah," Lilly managed to squeak out between laughs, "You should've!"

After everyone caught their breath, Ashley took a drink of her juice and then asked, "So what are you two up to this evening?"

"Going to play mini-golf tonight," Miley said grudgingly.

"Oh, come on Miles!" Lilly said, playfully poking Miley's shoulder. "You enjoyed it Monday night!"

"Yeah, it was okay," Miley said, not much more enthusiasm evident in her voice.

"You two on a mini-golf kick or something?" Ashley asked, not really paying that much attention as she checked her messages on her cell phone.

Oliver flashed Miley and Lilly a grin, as he was already aware of both the upcoming golf tournament and Lilly's desire to improve at least part of Miley's golf skills. "I, uh, told them I could beat both of them any time at Putt Putt," he said, "and, well, you know Lilly!"

"Yeah!" said Miley, seizing Oliver's suggestion. "Competitive as the day's long! That's my Lilly Bear!" She ended by giving a Lilly a hug and kiss on the cheek, which instantly melted Lilly's comeback before it ever had a chance to leave her lips. Instead Lilly just smiled and shrugged as Ashley put her phone away and looked up, a smile on her face.

"You want to make a double date of it? We could grab some dinner after if you want," Ashley said to Miley and Lilly.

Miley and Lilly looked at each other and shrugged. "Sure," Lilly said first, "that should work just fine."

The truth of the sudden interest in miniature golf was rather simple. When the idea for the charity golf tournament had been born two months ago, Lilly took into account Miley's natural athletic ability—or lack thereof—and realized that there was absolutely no way that Miley could become a golfer in only a few weeks. However, focusing on one specific area of golf, such as putting, presented a more realistic opportunity for improvement.

"_Okay Lilly, how the heck am I gonna learn anything from playing around on a Putt Putt course?" Miley said. "Why aren't you gonna take me to a driving range and let me whack away at those golf balls or something like that?"_

_Lilly sighed. "Miles. It might have been a while since I played with my dad and his friends, but I still remember what they tried to teach me. It comes down to math."_

"_Oh great," Miley said, throwing her hands up in the air. "Might as well just quit now."_

"_Hey!" Lilly said, grabbing Miley's shoulders and looking her directly in her sapphire eyes. "No woman of mine quits before the game even starts, so stop talking that way." _

_Miley looked sheepishly at her wife, instantly regretting her pessimistic attitude. Lilly was trying to help her before their just-announced Celebrity Pro-Am Golf Tournament, and Miley was repaying her by complaining. "Sorry," she said quite sincerely. "I'm just no good at sports, and you know it."_

_Lilly smiled before she gave Miley a tender kiss, easing the tension throughout Miley's body. "You might not be the greatest athlete in the world, but I think you're pretty darn good, sweetheart," she said lovingly as she brushed a lock of Miley's curls away from her eyes._

"_I just don't want to embarrass either of us at our own tournament, Lilly," Miley said._

"_Miley, it's for our charity, remember? We don't have to win anything, because the Foundation and everyone it helps win just from people showing up and donating their time and money. We can play as horribly as we want, and it's okay."_

"_You won't play horribly," Miley mumbled._

"_And neither will you," Lilly replied. "One of the things my dad taught me early on is to not focus too much on the big clubs like the driver. He'd always say, 'You swing the driver about eight to ten times on a typical round of golf, but you use the putter twenty to thirty. Practice what you'll use the most.' So that's what you're gonna do!"_

"_Putting?" Miley asked, a skeptical tone in her voice._

"_Yep. Putting. And if you can read the crazy breaks and obstacles on a Putt Putt course, you'll do pretty good on the real greens."_

"_How about the other clubs?"_

_Lilly thought for a minute before she spoke again. "I'll take to a driving range one day and show you how to point your body in the right direction. Maybe that way you won't kill anybody around us."_

_Miley grinned. "Do I get to use that big club?"_

"_A driver?"_

"_Yeah! A driver!"_

"_Um... no. It's safer for everyone that way."_

Miley smiled as she thought about their initial strategy session regarding the tournament. After a few weeks of playing mini-golf, she had developed some confidence with her putting. Lilly made Miley bring her own putter and golf balls to use so she could develop a feel for how they would work together, and the results had been surprisingly positive. The rest of the clubs, however, remained something of a lost cause.

As the four of them finished their round of mini-golf later that night, Miley and Lilly high-fived each other in celebration of their easy victory. "Told you there was no chance you were gonna beat us!" Lilly said happily as they walked to Ashley's car.

"We had a chance!" Oliver protested as he opened the door for Ashley as Miley did the same for Lilly.

"Yeah, but then you picked up a putter!" Miley said as she poked a finger at Oliver.

"And your losing three balls didn't help, either," Lilly helpfully pointed out.

Ashley coughed a few times, finally getting herself under control but not before her eyes were watering. "So, is Luanne coming back for graduation?" she finally asked.

"Yep!" Miley said happily as Ashley started the Mercedes sedan. "She's supposed to be back here Monday. We're all gonna be at graduation practice, so Daddy is gonna pick her up at the airport."

Monday was going to serve as a day to finish up any loose ends before the school year ended. Graduation practice was going to be held fairly early during the day, then the seniors got the rest of the day off. The actual graduation ceremony was going to be Monday night, and it was already so close that everyone could taste it.

"Okay, Ollie and I are going to go watch a movie at his house," Ashley said. "You two want to join us?"

"We'd like to, but we already have a date with our U.S. Government books," Miley said with a frown.

"We're sooo close to an A for the semester," Lilly added, holding up her hand with her thumb and index finger just millimeters apart to emphasize her point.

"You two have already been accepted at USC!" Ashley said, playfully shoving Lilly. "Or are you feeding your egos with your grades?"

Miley and Lilly looked at each other, then they turned back to look at Ashley. "Feeding our egos," they said as one.

"Okay," Ashley said laughingly. "We'll drop you off at your house, then."

The rest of the school week crawled by, but Saturday morning finally dawned. As the sun began to rise, Lilly found herself awake and out on their balcony, wrapped loosely in her purple robe as she sat in their all-weather rocking chair. As she was just thinking about how having Miley in her arms would make the moment ideal, she heard the door open behind her. "I was just thinking about you," she said happily, reaching back behind her for Miley's hand without even turning around. As she felt Miley's fingers lace with her own, Lilly smiled and looked up.

"I get cold when you're not in bed with me," Miley said with a pouty look as she sat on Lilly's lap, wrapped in a light green robe.

"I know," Lilly said as she enfolded Miley in her arms. "And I get cold sitting around out here without you. So now we're both happy."

"Mmmmm," Miley purred happily as she settled herself in Lilly's arms. After a few seconds Miley softly said, "Lil?"

"Yeah Miles?"

"Promise me you're not going to get too competitive during the golf tournament today." As Lilly sighed, Miley quickly added, "I mean, I know part of that is just who you are and I respect that, but today is for our charity, and just by having it we're all winning, okay?"

Lilly nodded. "I know, Miles, but I'm not gonna just lay back and not try my best. I mean, there are going to be news crews there from several different TV networks, and I don't want to look like I'm useless."

"Like me?" Miley slowly asked as she looked up into Lilly's eyes.

Lilly leaned down and kissed Miley on her forehead. "You are _far_ from useless, sweetheart. It's just that playing sports isn't your strong point, and it is mine."

"I disagree," Miley said as she shifted, turning her body to face Lilly more. She reached up and gently ran her fingers through Lilly's slightly wild blonde locks, being careful not to tug on any tangles. "Your strong point is being the most amazing, caring, generous, loving and all-around perfect wife and lover that anyone could ever have."

Lilly couldn't help but smile as she felt her eyes water at Miley's heartfelt statement. "You always know the most perfect thing to say to me, Miles, and even when I don't think I could love you any more, you find a way to make it happen."

Miley smiled. "That's 'cause I'm awesome," she said with a knowing smile.

Lilly giggled at Miley's statement, said jokingly but totally true, as Lilly was well aware. She lifted Miley up as she simultaneously leaned down, meeting her wife's lips for a tender kiss. "Love you, Miley Truscott," Lilly whispered against Miley's lips as they finished their kiss.

"Love you too, Lilly Truscott," Miley whispered back, her eyes still fluttering from the emotions surging between them. "Now carry me back to bed and make love to me before we have to get in the shower."

Lilly stood, picking Miley up with her and holding her securely. "Your wish is my command," she said with a smile.

"And don't you forget it," Miley added playfully as she reached forward and opened the door for them to go back into the bedroom.

An hour later Miley and Lilly came running down the stairs, bounding into the kitchen. They each carried a small backpack containing their wigs, although they had already put on their clothes for the golf tournament. Miley had put together a very sporty outfit with a Nike Diamond Sleeveless shirt in a pastel yellow and a soft pink Adidas ClimaCool skort. Nike had made a generous offer for Hannah to wear one of their skorts as well, but Miley hadn't been as happy with the fit as she had been with the Adidas. For her part, Lilly had done Lola proud by pairing a fire engine red Callaway Golf shirt with a custom-made pair of Nike shorts. The basic design of the shorts was a classic plaid, but this particular pair had been done with red, yellow and pink for the fabric's colors. She had chosen Lola's brilliant white wig to wear today, pulling the ensemble together nicely... at least for Lola. Both young women had also picked up white and pink FootJoy shoes for today, and those were already loaded in the car.

"Land sakes!" Dolly said as she got a look at the girls in their outfits. "You two look every bit as professional as those girls on TV!"

Miley grinned as she gave her aunt a hug. "Thanks, Aunt Dolly. I know you're fibbin' a bit, but we appreciate it."

Lilly echoed the hug as she embraced Dolly from the other side. "Wish us luck," she said.

"Oh, you girls don't need anything like luck," Dolly said, waving her dismissively. "You're already the prettiest things out there on that whole golf course today! Everybody else is gonna be so busy tryin' to catch a good look at the two of you that they won't be able to hit a dadblamed thing!"

Miley turned to look at her father as she sat down at the table to eat breakfast. "Are you comin' with us today, Daddy?" she asked.

Robbie Ray glanced at Lilly and managed to suppress a grin. He was quite pleased at Lilly's little surprise she had planned out for Miley's graduation gift, and part of him wished he could be there to see the look on his daughter's face today. But he understood that Lilly wanted to do this herself, and truthfully he had played only a tiny role in picking up the gift yesterday. "I kinda need to stick around here today, darlin'," he said casually. "Still workin' on a new song I got in my head last week."

As Miley began eating her oatmeal, she said, "I guess we can call ahead and get a limo set up for us, then."

Lilly scooted her chair up to the table as she sat down beside her wife. "I got it covered already, girlfriend," she said pleasantly. "Everything should be ready to go when we get into the garage." It was all she could do to not give anything away, so instead she quickly began eating to make sure her mouth was occupied for the rest of breakfast.

Once breakfast was finished Miley and Lilly slid into their obsidian black Roadster and set off for the music studio's private parking garage. As they cruised into the city of Los Angeles, Miley thought quietly about how different it was for Lilly to be the one with her instead of her father. However, even though it was different it still felt right for it to be just the two of them. As Lilly slid her ID into the card reader at the garage, Miley smiled as she thought ahead to the golf tournament. It was going to be a fun day, and they were going to raise several millions of dollars for their foundation today.

"I got you your graduation gift a bit early," Lilly said abruptly as they pulled into the darkness of the garage, the Tesla Roadster's headlights winking on silently.

"Rat," Miley said with a grin. "Hadn't picked yours up yet."

"Well, I owe you one or two from all the amazing things you've gotten me over our years together," Lilly said as she turned around a row of cars as they made their way through the underground garage. "So I splurged a bit."

Miley felt her heart skip several beats as the headlights illuminated a car sitting ahead of them: a Tesla Roadster exactly like the one they were driving, only in a brilliant electric blue. "Oh, Lilly, did you--" Miley said, her words catching in her throat as Lilly parked beside the glistening new car.

"Yes, I did," Lilly said simply as she turned off the ignition on the Roadster. "Now you have your own car, in case we need to drive somewhere as Hannah and Lola."

Miley slid across her seat and hugged Lilly tightly, tears easing down her cheeks. "It's beautiful," she managed to whisper, "just like you. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Lilly said, kissing her wife. "I figured that a rock star should have a car that fits her. And we both love driving Stella, so I knew that I couldn't go wrong with another Roadster. The studio has someone who'll come down and make sure it's charged and in perfect shape every day; your dad already took care of that. So you won't have to do a thing to take care of her."

They got out of their black Roadster and carried their bags over to the new blue Roadster. Lilly showed Miley the code to open the door and start the car, then they sat down and put on their wigs. Once they were ready, Miley started the new car. "This is amazing, sweetheart," she said, looking at Lilly. "Thanks again." She turned to Lilly and said, "How long did you have this planned out?"

"You're welcome, Miles," Lilly said, squeezing Miley's hand. "And a long time. Now let's go to our tournament and show everybody just who the hottest couple out there is."

Miley grinned as she put the car into Reverse and eased out of the parking place, then she shifted into first gear and sent them through the garage toward the exit on the other side.

As they pulled into the golf course several minutes later, cameras began to flash as soon as the girls could be spotted in their new car. Miley followed the directions of one of the course workers and parked in the VIP parking section. She and Lilly hurriedly stepped out of the Roadster and took each other's hand before they began walking to the tournament registration tent. They waved and smiled at the reporters clamoring for their attention along the way, but the two of them knew they needed to hurry.

Once they arrived at the tent and said their hellos to everyone working with the Foundation, Miley and Lilly were escorted to the starting area.

"Don't we need to warm up or something?" Miley asked as they walked past the putting green.

"We'll stretch," Lilly said confidently as they reached a large congregation of players, reporters and fans.

"Hannah, Lola!" called a voice behind them that seemed familiar. Miley and Lilly turned to see Darcy running toward them. "Glad you two made it, we were starting to get worried," she said with a smile.

"I had to give Hannah her present," Lilly said smugly.

"Special occasion?" Darcy asked, trying not to pry too much.

"Yes," Miley said simply, not offering further elaboration. "But there's no way we'd miss our own tournament!"

Darcy stepped a little closer to the two of them, then she motioned a direction for them to walk. As they worked their way through the crowd, she whispered to Miley, "It looks like the Foundation is going to bring in about twelve million dollars today, even after event costs and prizes."

Miley halted in her tracks, Lilly stopping only an instant later. "Darcy say what?" Miley said without even thinking.

Darcy grinned and nodded. "This was an amazing idea, you two," she said happily. "And usually some of these rich people and celebrities give even more at the end of the event, especially if they have a good time."

Miley and Lilly looked at each other momentarily. "Wow," Lilly said softly.

"Yeah," Miley whispered back. "I was thinkin' the same thing."

"That's a lot of money to go to helping kids and teenagers, sweetheart." Lilly looked into Miley's sparkling blue eyes before she suddenly lunged forward and kissed Miley passionately. After long seconds and a cascade of camera flashes, Lilly pulled back and once again focused on Miley's eyes. "I am _so proud_ of you and what you do with your fame and influence," she whispered. "And I couldn't be more proud to be your wife."

Miley looked back into those matching bright blue eyes, shining underneath the brilliant white bangs of Lola's wig. "Just like I couldn't be more proud to be yours, hon," Miley said, reaching up to gently caress Lilly's left cheek.

Lilly closed her eyes and leaned into the tender touch, forgetting everyone around them as the fiery sensation of Miley's touch pushed everything else out of her mind.

Darcy politely stood back, giving her young bosses their moments together before the tournament started. She had been around them enough over the last year to understand that displays of affection between the two of them were frequent, spontaneous and often rather cute. For all their wealth and fame, they truly were two teenagers in love, and many times those feelings for each other could sweep the two of them away. Finally she saw the two of them release their grips on each other, signaling it was time to move on. "Your group is going to be teeing off last, since it's your event," Darcy said as she led them to the first tee, where two blondes in golf attire stood laughing and chatting. "Hannah, Lola, I'd like you two to meet Natalie Gulbis," she pointed with her open hand to a woman with long, curly bright blonde hair, "and Paula Creamer," this time pointing to a woman roughly the same height but with slightly darker blonde hair.

Miley and Lilly both shook hands with their playing partners. Once they were done, Miley abruptly looked at Natalie and said, "My gosh, you're... hot!" Everyone laughed as Miley turned to Paula and hurriedly added, "And you're pretty beautiful yourself!"

"Thanks, and I think you two are cute as can be," Natalie said with a warm smile. "Paula and I were just talking about how we're both supposed to get several autographs from you two for some of our family members."

Miley nodded as she unconsciously took Lilly's hand in her own. "Sure! We can make that happen," she said as she looked at Lilly, who had a bemused smile on her face. Miley smiled back and winked at her wife, then she turned back to their playing partners. "I'm really not good at golf at all," she admitted. "But we _have_ been working on my putting really hard. Lola said that was the most important part of the game."

Both LPGA pros nodded. "She's right," Paula said. "But try not to psyche yourself out before we even start. Even though Nat and I are planning on winning today," she said with a laugh and glance at her friend, "just try to have fun. There's no pressure here."

Lilly nodded as she put her left arm around Miley. "Right. We're here for the Foundation and everyone we can help through it."

An announcer began to introduce a team getting ready to tee off. Being the final group, Miley and Lilly still had two more teams yet to tee off before they would get their chance. As he announced and the crowd applauded, Miley said, "Thanks, I really appreciate you two not minding me not being able to play worth a flip. I mean, you two do this for a living, so I bet playing with people who are terrible can be really frustrating, huh?"

"Sometimes," Natalie said with a faint smile. "But these Celebrity Pro-Ams are for a good cause, and sometimes we get really fun playing partners. That makes it a good experience for everybody."

Miley smiled as she put her right arm around Lilly, hugging her best friend back. "Well, I plan on just doin' my best and havin' fun today, because it really doesn't matter if we come in first or last, everybody wins... today..." Her voice trailed off as she looked at the group that had just hit their tee shots and was walking down from the tee box.

Lilly caught the shift in Miley's voice at the same time she felt her stomach turn cold and twist up. She turned to look at her wife, then she followed Miley's gaze to the tee box. "Oh, come on!" she said softly to no one in particular. "You've _got_ to be kidding me."

Walking down from the tee box were none other than William Harris and his son Trey Harris. Miley had briefly dated Trey right before she and Lilly had admitted their love for each other, and while Trey himself had been a very sweet young man, his parents William and Jeanette had been horrible to Miley, constantly deriding her Tennessee upbringing and accent and going so far as to call her a "bumpkin" to her face. Trey had also told Miley that his parents thought Hannah Montana was a joke when Miley had steered the subject to the pop star. As with Miley, they had assumed that because Hannah was from the South that she was an idiot and owed her success to skillful management rather than any real talent or effort on her part. Miley had finally called the relationship off because she knew it wasn't where she was meant to be, plus she could see once again the toll such a relationship was taking on Lilly. In truth, she wished she had never even gotten into dating Trey, because they way his parents insulted Miley still infuriated both young women.

Miley spun around, startling Natalie and Paula. "Change of plans," Miley said coolly as a smile spread across her face. "We're _SO_ kicking their asses."

**Afterword:** I have to apologize for it taking so long between updates. Between vacation two weeks ago and work last week, things have been really hectic, and I'm sorry for it taking so long. The story also decided to take a different approach this last week, pushing the graduation section into the next chapter. I truly hope no one minds, but I have to write what the story tells me to write. However, graduation and the rest of the golf tournament will be in the next chapter, I promise. See you then!

Jo


	20. Chapter 20: Making the Turn

**Author's Note:** This chapter really wrestled with me for nearly two weeks, but it's finally here! Thanks to everyone for continuing to read and enjoy my stories; I write them to try and spread positive feelings and love to everyone I can, and I truly hope reading my stories makes your day just a bit brighter when you're finished.

**DataAndrd**, your compliments make me blush slightly, but I happily accept them for the kind praise they are. To me, so much of Miley's and Lilly's love for each other is reflected in the little things they do every day. Just tonight I saw a sign that read, "Enjoy the _little_ things today, because one day we'll look back and see just how _big_ they really were." For Miley and Lilly, every single moment together is sacred and worth cherishing, no matter how inconsequential it may seem at the time. I don't think I could praise their love any more powerfully than that. **Stupid-Lollies**, interesting question about disguises for their daughters. That question probably won't be answered until the sixth story in the septology, but I promise you'll get to see some of the little girls in the next story, too. **Mephisto20100**, you're going to get to see lots more of Miley's and Lilly's futures in the fifth and sixth stories, I promise! As for kids for some of our other couples, oh yes, you'll get to meet them as well... **BrownandBlueEyes**, thanks for your compliments. I promise I'll keep writing, you just keep reading. **Moxterminator**, you're going to get lots more Liley in the future. I find the love between Miley and Lilly inspiring and uplifting, and all of us need as much of those as we can get (myself in particular!) **Eternalwraps**, your review was great! Thanks for the kind words, and you go right on getting excited about Miley and Lilly! And yes, Miley and Lilly did indeed mean Tennessee for UT, as you expected.

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_ Also, if you'd like to review the Cast of Characters, it's located at the beginning of Chapter 11. If not, then happy reading!

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 20: Making the Turn

_Breakout_

_Let the party start_

_We're gonna stay out, gonna break some hearts_

_We're gonna dance 'til the dance floor falls apart_

_Oh oh, all over again_

_We're gonna wake up everyone we know_

_We're gonna have some fun, gonna lose control_

_It feels so good to let go_

_I wish it would never end_

_Spending time with my friends_

_Oh, with my friends_

--Miley Cyrus; "Breakout"

As Miley walked to the first tee, the cheers of the crowd drowned out the announcer's introduction.

"_Ladies and gentlemen, now teeing off, Mrs. Hannah Montana!"_

Miley looked down at the club in her hand, a 5-iron. Lilly had assured her that it was more important to hit the ball short but straight on the first tee rather than to risk an errant tee shot for her first shot of a round. She looked up to the crowd and said with a smile, "Lola said I have to use an iron for this shot, so I don't take a chance on killin' anybody." The crowd laughed heartily, with a few claps thrown in as well. Miley set her ball on the tee, took aim down the fairway, focused on the ball as she brought the club back, and then she smoothly turned her body into her swing, striking the ball cleanly if not powerfully.

The crowd clapped as the ball sailed through the air, straight down the fairway. It wasn't very far, probably no more than a hundred or a hundred-and-twenty yards, but it was a very pretty shot. Miley had a big grin on her face as she walked off the tee box to where Lola was waiting. The format of the tournament was "captain's choice," where each member of the team hit a shot every time the ball was played; the captain then selected which shot of the four to play for the next shot. With this format bad shots would be dropped in favor of the best shots, and eye-popping scores could rapidly accumulate. More importantly, this format took the pressure off everyone and allowed weaker players to participate and contribute without intense pressure.

"Great shot, hon," Lilly said as she hugged and quickly kissed Miley as the superstar reached the rest of her team, twirling slightly to lean against her wife. "Nice and straight, that's our game today. We're letting these big girls with us hit the killer shots."

Miley looked at Natalie and Paula and pointed back and forth between them. "Ya'll hear that?" she asked, her face serious but with a hint of a smile trying to break through. "Big girls. Killer shots."

"Yes ma'am," said Paula with a laugh, tipping the brim of her cap to Miley.

Now it was Lilly's turn. As she stepped onto the tee box, the announcer called out, _"Now teeing off, Mrs. Lola Montana!"_

Lilly couldn't help but grin as she acknowledged the cheering crowd with a wave; anytime she heard herself introduced with her wife's name it sent shivers up her spine, even today. _I hope it does that for the rest of our lives._ She placed her ball on the tee and picked a target for her drive. She positioned her body appropriately, then smoothly brought the driver back, holding it a split-second before uncoiling her body starting at the hips, bringing the club down and around in a swing that felt nearly perfect. Her ears registered the crisp sound of the clubhead striking the ball as she followed through with her swing, but she held her gaze downward a second longer before she dared to look up and track the path of her shot. She was deliriously happy when she saw the high, arcing flight on the ball as it soared over the fairway, landing almost two hundred yards away and rolling a bit farther before settling to a stop.

Lilly bent down to retrieve her tee, knocked out of the ground with the impact, and stood to once again wave to the boisterous crowd, quite vocal in their appreciation of her excellent tee shot. She walked back off the tee box to where Miley was waiting beside their caddies.

Miley wrapped Lilly up in her embrace and kissed her with significantly less restraint than a few moments before. As Lilly grinned when they broke the kiss, Miley gleefully said, "That was a beautiful shot!" She leaned in to touch her forehead against Lilly's and whispered, "We are _so_ gonna win."

Lilly whispered back, "I don't know about winning the tournament, sweetheart, but I'll settle for just beating that Harris butthole ahead of us." Lilly glanced down for a second or two, then her eyes flicked back up to find Miley's again. "I know that Trey was nice to you, but I still want to beat him too."

A few years ago Miley would have taken offense to Lilly admitting jealous feelings regarding a former boyfriend of hers, and back then Miley probably would have defended said former boyfriend to the point of triggering an argument between her and Lilly. But now the two of them understood both the overwhelming need to be honest with each other and the equally overwhelming need to have each other, and as a result Miley ignored any flashes of feelings other than love for her wife and partner. "He was a mistake, and I know that now," Miley whispered. "And I won't get upset if you enjoy beating him too."

Lilly grinned. "Good," she said firmly. "'Cause it's gonna happen. But I won't rub it in on him like I will his jerk of a dad. He _did_ finally stand up for you, after all."

Miley smiled, a hint of wistfulness contained in it. "Yeah, he was nice to me. But he wasn't who I was meant to spend the rest of my life with."

"And who exactly is that person again?" Lilly asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Only the most breathtakingly beautiful, sweet, funny, caring, loving woman in the entire world."

"Who would walk through fire for you?" Lilly asked with her mischievous grin.

Miley nodded as she said, "Who would walk through fire for me."

"And who will always be your knight in shining armor?"

"And who will always be my knight in shining armor."

"And who--" Miley's fingers on Lilly's lips stopped her from finishing her question.

"Yes," Miley said with a smile. "You'll always be my everything to me, now and forever, and I love you for it."

Lilly smiled underneath Miley's fingers, then she hugged Miley tightly as she willed tears not to trickle forth.

"We've got four on the fairway, girls," said Natalie with a sunny smile as she walked over to them. "We need our co-captains to pick which shot we're playing."

Miley and Lilly smiled as they looked into each other's eyes a second longer, then they released their embrace to shift to holding hands as they began to walk down the first fairway. Today was shaping up to be a terrific day so far.

As the round of golf went on, Lilly didn't think she could have been having a better day. She did have to put up with Miley fussing over making sure she had enough sunscreen on, but Lilly didn't let that irritate her. She knew Miley was trying to prevent her from getting a sunburn, and Lilly made sure Miley wore her sunscreen as well.

When the group walked up to the seventh tee, Lilly smiled as she considered just how great the day had turned out. Both Natalie and Paula were having terrific days, and while neither Lilly or Miley could come close to their distance and accuracy, the two younger women were doing well with shots closer to the green and putting. After six holes Team Montana was already seven strokes under par, thanks to an astounding iron shot from Natalie and an equally good putt from Paula on the fourth hole, sinking a thirty-footer for an eagle.

As their caddies set the staff bags holding everyone's clubs down, Lilly stole a glance to their right. A line of young shrubs no more than knee-high separated the seventh tee box from the ninth tee box, and Lilly could see the group of William and Trey Harris and the two unlucky LPGA players partnered with them walk onto the ninth tee box.

Lilly frowned as she considered the situation. The ninth hole was a long par 3, making the tee shot extremely important. As much as she disliked Harris, Lilly's competitive nature compelled her to keep an eye on his group to estimate how well they were doing. According to Natalie and Paula, the two pros on his team were both new to the LPGA, but Lilly expected that eight holes had been plenty of time for them to realize just how charming William Harris could be. The two pros were making a point to stay away from the older man, and despite Trey's talking to them from time to time, they didn't seem interested in speaking with his father at all. _Serves the old coot right._ Lilly still seethed over the way the man had insulted Miley, and only her then-secret love for Miley had prevented her from chewing Miley out for tolerating his invective as long as she had. _All over some stupid boy._

As Harris pulled an iron from his bag, an idea struck Lilly. The grin that slowly spread across her lips was gleeful, if a bit dark, as she considered whether she should act on her thought or not. _When opportunity knocks, you've got to open the door._ "Hannah?" she said sweetly as she walked over to Miley and her caddy.

"Yeah, hon?" Miley said, looking at her clubs.

Lilly ran her fingers across the tops of Miley's club covers before she looked at her girlfriend. "Why don't you lead us off this hole?" she asked, trying to keep her voice carefully pitched so that Miley wouldn't catch on. The two young women knew each other so well that the slightest slip in Lilly's tone of voice would tip Miley off that she was up to something.

Miley shaded her eyes and looked down the long fairway. "You sure, Lola?" she asked as she turned to look back at Lilly, now standing much closer. "I mean, if you want me to, I will." She felt her heart rate pick up slightly at the faint scent of strawberries coming from her wife, now standing close enough to trigger some very intimate feelings inside Miley.

"I want you to," Lilly answered, casting a quick glance across to the ninth tee. Harris was still trying to decide on which club to use, and it appeared that he and his caddy were arguing about club selection. "Oh, and Hannah?" Lilly quickly asked as Miley started to pull her 5-iron out of her bag.

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you try this club?" Lilly said as she pulled Miley's driver out of the bag and tugged the bright pink head cover off of it. She grinned a wide grin as she held out the long club.

Miley stopped as she took the club from Lilly's hand. "Are you sure, Lola?" she asked hesitantly. The driver had only come out during one previous session at the driving range, and Miley was convinced that some of the people present that day were still having nightmares.

Lilly nodded calmly, her broad grin still firmly in place. "I think you're due," she said. As Miley smiled and turned to walk onto the tee box, Lilly surreptitiously waved for Natalie and Paula to step back, which they did hurriedly.

Miley set her tee and ball into the ground and then turned to aim down the fairway. Lilly looked ahead and to the right again, where Harris was just now starting to walk onto his tee box. Lilly turned to look back at Miley, who was looking back with an unsure expression on her face. "Just keep your head down and swing through it, sweetheart," Lilly said helpfully. "Make sure to swing hard, too."

At that last piece of advice Natalie turned to look at Lilly curiously, but she didn't say anything. Instead she looked again at Miley as the teenager brought the driver back, held it briefly, and then twisted to start a fierce swing. As the clubhead impacted the ball with a crisp _thwack_, the ball instantly started right and continued to curve at a high rate of speed.

"_Shoot!"_ Miley said as she saw the ball headed for the other group of players on the ninth tee. "FOURTEEN!" she yelled loudly just as the ball flew by the head of William Harris, narrowly missing him as it smacked into a nearby tree and ricocheted deep into what passed for woods in Malibu.

Lilly, Natalie and Paula all started laughing as they saw Harris fall to the ground after the near miss with the golf ball. He climbed to his feet and shook his fist at Miley, yelling something quite rude at her.

"Hey Hannah!" Lilly said, still quivering with laughter.

Miley turned to look back at her wife, a huge grin on her face now that she recognized whom it was she had nearly hit. "Yeah, hon?"

Lilly tossed Miley another golf ball. "You better hit a provisional. We might not be able to find that one."

Miley dropped the ball as she tried to catch it, hurriedly bending down to pick it up. "But the three of you still get to hit. I don't think we're gonna need to play my pitiful shot."

"You never know," Lilly said, looking to their playing partners. "This looks like a hard hole."

"It never hurts to be cautious," Paula quickly added, with Natalie simply hiding her laughter behind a gloved hand, unable to speak.

Miley grinned and teed the second ball up. "Swing hard, right?"

"Yep," Lilly replied.

At the sound of another _thwack_ from Miley's driver, Harris looked up and then immediately fell to the ground again as the viciously slicing ball zipped over his head, this time not even catching a tree as it tore into the woods on the other side of the ninth tee.

"FOURTEEN!!" yelled Miley, Lilly, Natalie and Paula right before they all collapsed with laughter at the seventh tee.

A little over two hours later, Miley and Lilly walked off the eighteenth hole, followed by Natalie and Paula. Lilly had sunk a thirteen-foot putt for a birdie to cap a remarkable round, fueled mainly by the skills of Natalie and Paula but also by the infectious enthusiasm of the two teenagers out for a good time... and a little Harris blood. Their team's final score was a 54, a full eighteen strokes under par and eight strokes better than the team of William Harris. That type of score would have been impossible for any single player, but with two top LPGA professionals—each having a terrific day—and two more players hitting good chips and putts, birdies and eagles had come quite frequently.

Lilly was shocked when she looked at the leaderboard and saw Lola's and Hannah's names resting comfortably atop all the others. "Hannah!" she squealed as she jumped up and down, her bright blue golf shoes kicking up underneath her.

"What?" asked Miley frantically. She hurried around her girlfriend, afraid she had been stung by a bee or some other insect. "What is it?"

Lilly pointed at the leaderboard, her mouth working but uncharacteristically silent. Finally she was able to stammer out, "W-we, we... We won! We won!"

"What?!" Miley practically yelled. _There's no stinking way we won! Not even with Natalie and Paula hitting all those darn near impossible shots. I mean, they said that our team was doin' really well, and every time one of them hit a bad shot, the other always seemed to have a good one to make up for it, but even with that..._

Before Miley could think any more, a round of cheering and applause began among the crowd watching the final score being posted on the scoreboard, confirming that Team Montana had won by two strokes ahead of the second-place team.

"Congratulations," Natalie said as she smiled brightly at the two younger women. "You two played like pros out there today. All those putts and chips really helped out."

Miley waved her hand dismissively before she could even think about it. "Ah heck, we just banged away at our shots," she said. "You two are the ones who really rocked today."

Paula grinned as she reached the others, stopping beside Natalie and resting her arm on her friend's shoulder. "Yeah, we pretty much kicked the course's ass today, didn't we?"

Miley and Lilly hugged each other tightly, then they turned and gathered Natalie and Paula into a group hug. "Thanks for being on our team today," Lilly said. "We never expected to win, you know, even with you two playing."

"I pretty much suck at golf," Miley volunteered, raising a hand as she spoke.

"Didn't look that way today," Paula said. "Would you two be willing to play in the next celebrity tournament the LPGA puts on, maybe in a few months?"

"I think that could be arranged," Miley said with a grin. "But only if you let us send you two some tickets to any of my concerts. Just tell me which ones and we'll hook you two up."

"Deal," Natalie and Paula both said at the same time, causing them to laugh.

"Wow, what a great round!" said Darcy as she deftly maneuvered through the crowd, still cheering the winning foursome. "Let's get you four over to the scorer's tent so we can hand you your trophies!"

Lilly nonchalantly took Miley's hand as they walked the gauntlet of fans lining the walkway between the course and the scorer's tent; the crowd continued to cheer and applaud as the girls both blushed slightly at the attention. They were accustomed to being celebrities, but this was a bit out of their usual element.

"I'm not used to winning anything when it comes to sports," Miley said to Lilly, leaning in close to make sure her wife heard her over the crowd. "I'm usually the one who loses it for my team."

"Stop it," Lilly said gently, the hint of a smile on her face as she lightly smacked Miley's arm. "I promised I'd never treat you that way again a long time ago, remember?"

Miley smiled as they stepped into the scorer's tent, where two canvas sides of the tent gave them a bit of shielding from the cameras and eyes of reporters and fans. "I know," she said as she looked into Lilly's brilliant blue eyes. "Aw," Miley said softly as she could see the unshed tears starting to form in her best friend's eyes. "It's okay, sweetie, I didn't mean it that way. That football game was the only time you ever did that to me, and you never did it again. You've kept your promise, and I know that. I just wasn't thinking when I said that."

Lilly sniffed and nodded her head. "Okay," she said. "I just still feel bad about doing that to you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But I really didn't want us to have to shave our heads, either."

Miley grinned. "Being picked last was a sacrifice I was willing to make for _that_," she said. "Especially since it was you-know-who on the other end of that bet."

"I wonder how she's doing in Michigan?" Lilly asked offhandedly.

"Probably as charmin' as ever," Miley said, sparking a laugh from Lilly.

"You're probably right," Lilly said.

"You two need to sign the scorecard," said Paula, standing next to a table with several officials sitting at it. Miley and Lilly stepped over and signed their names to the scorecard, handing it to an older gentleman when they were finished.

"Now you need to collect your trophy," Natalie said, pointing at Darcy standing just outside the tent at a portable table with several trophies of various shapes and sizes on it.

"_Your_ trophy," Miley said, pointing a slim finger at Natalie and Paula. "Ya'll were the ones that won it, remember?"

"She's got you there," Lilly said, matching Miley's smile. "We just helped here and there."

As Darcy handed the trophies out, Miley and Lilly surreptitiously signaled that they didn't want any grand attention directed at them. However, the event organizer exercised her prerogative and ignored their suggestion with a pleasant smile. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all so much for coming out and having fun with us today! Thanks to you, we've raised several million dollars for the Hannah and Lola Montana Foundation today, money that will go directly to support teens and children across the country and around the world. Without all of you and your generosity, we wouldn't have events like this today." Miley and Lilly clapped energetically at Darcy's statement, happy to have the attention directed where they preferred it to be—the recipients of their charity.

"And now, it's time to recognize our winning team," Darcy said as she picked up a large trophy topped with Hannah and Lola's interlocking HLM logo, emblazoned with sparkling yellow, pink and lavender. "With a final score of 54, eighteen shots under par, our winners of the first Hannah and Lola Montana Foundation Charity Golf Tournament are, well... Hannah and Lola Montana, Natalie Gulbis and Paula Creamer!"

Darcy moved to hand the trophy to Miley, but the teenager refused to take it. "You hand the big honkin' trophy to them first," she said, moving closer to Lilly to let Natalie and Paula step forward. "They're the ones who hit dang near every shot they took today." Her words drew laughs through the crowd, leading to more applause.

Unfortunately, not everyone present was happy. "This was a sham!" yelled an angry male voice coming through the crowd. As William Harris shoved his way into the clearing, Lilly felt her blood begin to boil. However, as she stepped forward to put him in his place, she felt Miley grab her arm and hold her in place.

"Let him show his ass first, hon," Miley whispered to Lilly. "Then we can put him in his place." Lilly looked at Miley and then her stance relaxed minimally as she nodded once, her lips tightly closed.

"Obviously, this whole tournament was rigged from the start," Harris said, drawing a few jeers from the crowd.

Natalie stepped forward, angry at being accused of cheating. "This was most certainly NOT rigged!" she replied hotly. "The LPGA helped organize and run this tournament, and all of us plus the referees and judges took this tournament as seriously as any regular tournament!" She took a moment to regain control of her temper, then she coolly said, "We beat you fair and square, because our team played better than yours."

"And behaved better, too," Lilly muttered, drawing laughs from those close enough to hear her.

At that, Harris turned to Miley and Lilly. He angrily strode toward them and said, "This was _clearly_ a public relations stunt to make these two children look good," sneering down his nose as he regarded the two young women.

While in real life people didn't really turn bright red and have steam come out of their ears when they were furious, if such a sight _had_ been possible, then the crowd would have seen exactly that as Miley stepped forward. "You're just a sore loser and a rude, stuck-up grouch with no manners!" Miley said as she clenched her fists tightly, willing herself to keep her arms at her sides. "One of my good friends met you once, and she told me that you were mean, rude and a real jerk who thought he was so much better than everybody else. Well, buster, let me tell ya—she was right!"

"Hannah practiced for over a month before this tournament," Lilly said as she stepped forward to stand beside her girlfriend. "We both worked really hard so we wouldn't be dead weight today, and our partners played their hearts out on that course!" she said, pointing at Natalie and Paula. "Don't insult them and us by saying that we had to cheat to beat you."

"How else could some backwoods hick who's probably never even seen a golf course and her fashion disaster sidekick win a tournament like this?" Harris said, his voice oily with contempt.

"ARRRGHHH!" Miley growled, far beyond the limits of her temper. She stepped forward and jabbed a finger at his chest, being careful not to actually touch him. "Listen here, _bud_. First, Lola's isn't my sidekick. She's my wife. W-I-F-E. _Wife_! And she has more kindness, intelligence, charisma, athletic ability and charm that you could ever dream of! Second, I'm not a 'backwoods hick.' Yes, I'm from Tennessee, and I couldn't be prouder of it. Back there we're raised to show some class and manners, even when dealing with sorry excuses for people like YOU."

As Miley poked her finger at Harris again, Lilly was struck by how similar her wife's gesture was to what Lilly had seen Ruthie do several times when she was letting someone have it. She fought to keep a grin off her face. _I'll tell her about that... later._

Unaware of her similarity to her grandmother, Miley continued. "My wife's style is all her own, and it's not some fashion disaster. It's takin' a bit of everything she likes and making it into something that has her heart and soul in it. And you better believe I ain't gonna let you insult her like you did our friend!"

"And who is this 'friend' you keep talking about?" Harris said, his sneer a bit less convincing at this point.

"Ask your son," Miley said, pointing to Trey, who was trying his best to turn invisible and thus stay out of the uproar his father had created. "Our friend said he was the only one in your family with some class!"

"But he could have stood up to you and your snotty wife sooner, too!" Lilly said, glaring daggers at Trey. As soon as the words left her mouth, Lilly suddenly felt a weight lift off her chest. She had waited years to say that, and now it was done. She didn't notice that Miley had paused in her tongue-lashing of Harris. Instead, Miley turned to see exactly what Lilly was up to as she walked over to Trey.

As Lilly reached the young man, she regarded him for a minute, her face carefully neutral. "But at least you _did_ stand up to them for her," she finally said. "And that counts for a lot." She held out her hand, poised to shake his.

Trey carefully looked at her hand, then he took it and shook it firmly. He was unsure as to what to say, so he wisely stayed quiet.

"We're cool now," Lilly said. Trey wouldn't know exactly what she was talking about, but then she hadn't said it for his benefit. She had said it for Miley's. Lilly turned to walk back over to Miley, then she froze and looked over her shoulder at Trey. "And just so you know, she's very happily married now, so don't go getting any ideas about calling her back up." Her face was smiling, but her eyes most certainly were not.

Miley returned her gaze to Harris, still standing inches away from her. "My daddy always told me that people who try and insult others all the time only do it 'cause they can't stand themselves. I guess in your case that's about right."

Harris ripped off his golf glove and threw it onto the ground. "I have NEVER been talked to this way before!" he bellowed.

"Well, then maybe that's part of the problem!" Miley yelled back, standing on her tiptoes to match his angry stance. "If more people called you on it when you were actin' like a jerk, maybe you'd learn somethin'!" Miley took a few seconds to regain control of her temper, then she said in a slightly more calm voice, "Just because you're rich don't give you the right to treat other people like dirt!"

Harris's face was red as a beet as he coldly said, "I'll have you know I pledged to donate _two hundred thousand dollars_ to your 'charity' today, but after the way you've talked to me, I'm hereby rescinding that donation."

Now Lilly was really hot. However, just as she started forward, Miley's left arm shot out and blocked her way, stopping Lilly in her tracks. "Let him take it back," Miley said to Lilly as she continued to lock glares with Harris. "He's only donating it to get his name in the papers anyway. He doesn't really care about teenagers or children or making other people's lives better, just the publicity." Miley turned to Darcy, who was standing to the side with a look somewhere between horror and outrage frozen on her face. "Give him his check back," Miley said flatly.

"Well, he hasn't actually... given us the money yet," Darcy said politely.

"Even better," said Miley, still not taking her eyes off Harris. "Lola and I will match whatever he pledged, and then double it."

Miley could feel Lilly's pulse quicken from where her best friend was still in contact with her outstretched arm. However, she knew that this was the right thing to do, and Lilly would see that. She was sure of it.

"Absolutely," said Lilly, bringing a smile to Miley's face. Inwardly, Lilly grimaced; this was going to be tough to cover, even with her salary from _Heroes_, but Miley was right. It was the right thing to do, and Hannah certainly had the money in the bank to cover it.

Darcy turned to look at Harris, whose face was now flushed and slick with sweat. "Then I believe your business here is concluded, Mr. Harris. Would you like to leave now, or should I call for security to escort you from the premises?"

Harris tugged at the bottom of his polo shirt, attempting to regain some of the carefully layered poise he liked to present to others. "Let's go, Trey," he said over his shoulder. However, no reply was forthcoming. "Trey?" he asked as he turned around, but his son was nowhere to be seen. Without saying a word, the younger man had managed to eloquently express what he thought of his father's poor attitude.

Now Miley released her steely gaze from the angry older man. She turned to look at her best friend, then they turned together to face the crowd. They raised the trophy, eliciting cheers from the crowd, then they were joined by Paula and Natalie, making the cheers double in intensity. Miley leaned to the side and said to Paula and Natalie, "Thanks for putting up with us and the crazy stuff that follows us around."

Paula grinned and shook her head. "Most fun tournament I've played in in years," she said simply. "Count me in for next year."

"Me too," Natalie said, her earrings jingling softly as she nodded her head. "You girls are a hoot!"

Miley and Lilly smiled and simply hugged each other tightly as they turned back to the crowd, enjoying the moment.

Sunday was like a summer dream, warm and comforting but all too quick to pass. Miley and Lilly finished packing for their trip to Misty Hollow, where they were going to be spending two weeks right after graduation. Robbie Ray had something special planned for them, but neither Miley nor Lilly could extract any clues from him despite their best efforts.

Monday morning came early for Miley, who uncharacteristically found herself waking up before the sun climbed above the horizon. She smiled as she saw Lilly's beautiful face just inches from her own, still deep in slumber. Miley placed a soft kiss on Lilly's nose, then she slipped out from beneath the covers. She put on a powder blue robe and quietly made her way downstairs, being careful to not make any noise as she went down the steps. She went to the kitchen and spent the next few minutes fixing a large mug of hot tea. Even though it was going to be blisteringly hot later today, Miley still found hot tea comforting when her nerves were a bit agitated. Once her tea was ready, she slowly crept back up the stairs. She smiled as she saw the door to Jackson's old room closed. _He and Kaela must have gotten in sometime last night_, she thought. _Aunt Dolly's already here, and Lu and Mamaw'll be here in a few hours._

Miley sighed as she opened the door to the bedroom that belonged to her and her wife. So much was about to change as high school prepared to give way to college, and those changes were frightening even to someone who had spent nearly half her life in the harsh light of celebrity. But then all the fear fled Miley's heart as she saw Lilly lying in their bed, her hair a mess and the covers half off her body but somehow even more beautiful than the first time Miley realized she had fallen in love with her best friend. _Some things will never change_, Miley thought happily as she took another drink of the hot tea, _and I'll never be alone in anything I do. Not ever_. Miley set the mug down on the small nightstand beside the bed, then she shed her robe and tossed it into a moon chair in the corner.

As Miley slid back into the bed and against Lilly's warm body, Lilly's voice quietly drifted across the pillow. "You bring me anything?" she asked sleepily.

"Just my hot body," Miley replied as she pulled herself against her wife's back and draped her left arm across Lilly's ribs.

"That works," Lilly said, not opening her eyes as a small grin crept across her pink lips, unseen by Miley from her position behind Lilly.

"Nympho," Miley said teasingly as she snuggled her face into Lilly's flaxen hair, getting a soft laugh in return.

"Mmmmm, only for you, hon."

"Better be."

Lilly rolled over in the bed, pulling Miley closer until the tips of their noses were nearly touching. "Love you, Miles."

"Love you too, Lil."

Just a few hours later found Miley and Lilly walking the halls of Seaview High School for one final day. Today was for the seniors to practice the graduation ceremony and take care of any niggling details such as library fines or textbooks that needed to be turned in. Since it was only a half-day, when the bell for lunch rang, it instead signaled more than just the end of third period. Today that bell marked the end of one of the most difficult periods of this senior class's lives, four (and in some cases, five) years that brought these young women and men from innocent to worldly, from blissfully naïve to painfully experienced. Those years were crammed full of times both happy and heartbreaking, at times painful and at other times pleasurable, but always filled with an emotional intensity that would indelibly color the rest of their lives. These were the years when those boys and girls took their first halting steps into manhood and womanhood, and they would never—_could_ never—go back to the way things were when they first set foot into the halls of high school.

As the echoes from that final bell finally ceased to reverberate through the halls, Miley and Lilly stood next to a row of lockers as their classmates rushed out of the school. Lilly held her backpack open while Miley carefully removed the pictures, magnets, tiny posters and other items from their locker. Neither of them spoke much during their work, and each of them found themselves wiping a tear or two as they cleaned out their locker. Finally everything they were keeping had been gathered into the backpack, and everything they were throwing away had been tossed into the trashcan Lilly had dragged over to them. They left only two things in their locker: a small dry-erase board and a purple dry-erase marker they had used to write notes during the day. They looked together at the words Miley had written on it, then they closed the locker door, plunging the words into the shadows.

_This locker belonged to_

_Miley and Lilly Truscott,_

_Class of 2010._

_We leave it for you and_

_hope life blesses you_

_as it has blessed us._

_Love,_

_M+L_

"It's time to go, huh?" Lilly asked Miley, wiping tears more quickly now as she slung the backpack over her right shoulder.

Miley nodded, her face and nose a bit red. "Yeah. I guess it is." She looked around one last time at the halls that had seen so much of her and Lilly's lives. "I never thought I'd say this, but I think I might miss this place," she said softly.

Lilly snorted. "I won't." She took Miley's hand and began to walk to the main doors. "Okay, maybe I will," she admitted. "We had lots of fun here, didn't we?"

"Yeah," Miley said, smiling as the tears began to stop. "Some tough times too, but lots more happy times than sad ones."

As they walked out into the sunlight, Miley put her arm around Lilly as they matched their steps to walk in time with each other. Lilly looked up at the blue sky and smiled as she said, "Sky's the limit, girlfriend," bumping her hip against Miley's.

Later that evening Miley and Lilly stood in a hallway outside the gymnasium, tucked into line in alphabetical order with the other graduating seniors. The golden robes they were wearing weren't quite as hot as the girls had feared, but the mortarboard caps they were wearing were highly irritating, particularly to Miley.

"Oooh, I hate this thing!" Miley said, drawing a few snickers from around her as her cap tipped forward yet again.

"Here, Miley, let me pin it back into place," Lilly said. She turned around and fished for the bobby pin still in her wife's chestnut brown curls. "Got it," she said with a smile as she slid it free of Miley's hair. She took the cap from Miley's hand and once again affixed the bobby pin to the cap as the strains of "Pomp and Circumstance" began to play inside the gymnasium. "They're starting!" Lilly said as she hastily replaced the cap back on Miley's head, tucking the curls out of the way as best as she could.

"Hurry, Lilly!" Miley hissed, craning her neck to see if the front of the line had started to move yet.

"Hold still," Lilly fussed. "Hard to hit a moving target." She finally got both pins in place and the cap cocked at just the right angle as Miley gently pushed Lilly forward (which was backward for Lilly at the moment). Lilly nimbly spun around and used a few quick steps to catch up to the others in front of them right as they walked into the gym.

The bleachers were full as families and friends cheered and applauded as the seniors neatly made their way to their seats. Once everyone was in position, Principal Young said, "You may be seated."

Once everyone had settled in their seats, the next ten minutes were spent recognizing those students who had earned special honors, with three of them making short remarks to the Class of 2010 and those in attendance. Those minutes seemed to drag on for hours to Miley and Lilly, who managed to calm their nerves by thumb wrestling during that portion of the ceremony. Finally all the seniors breathed a sigh of relief as Principal Young once again stepped to the podium and asked the graduating class to rise. As he did so, the students in the first row walked up to the edge of the stage, pausing long enough for each student's name to be called, then that student walked across the stage to collect his or her diploma and shake hands with Principal Young and the Superintendent of Schools. When the end of one row neared the steps up to the stage, the next row walked forward, forming a continuous line with the earlier row.

There were the inevitable yells and often embarrassing cheers from enthusiastic family members happy to see their loved ones graduate. Miley had told Lilly that back in Tennessee those loud playful cheers were referred to as "callin' the hogs," which Lilly had instantly loved. Principal Young allowed these displays of encouragement as long as some standards of decorum were maintained, because he realized those family members were celebrating a milestone in that teenager's life in their own way.

Graduation continued in a deliberate, inexorable way, as each student waited for his or her name to be called out, then he or she crossed the stage, took the diploma, shook hands with the principal and superintendent and then walked off the stage. So it went until Lilly was standing at the edge of the stage, ready to climb the steps and walk across the stage. Miley smiled, still holding Lilly's hand until she heard Lilly's name called. However, she was too startled to let go of Lilly's hand when the teacher reading the names called out, "Lillian Jessica and Miley May Truscott."

Lilly registered what had just occurred before Miley did, and she tugged Miley up on stage with her. They walked across the stage together, still holding hands, to thunderous applause not just from the bleachers full of parents and families but also from their own classmates. The applause diminished slightly as the girls took their diplomas and shook hands, each taking one official and then switching, but when they walked on across the stage the cheers and whistles picked back up. Layered in the din of noise, the girls could clearly hear a solitary female voice scream, "GO VOLS!" They both laughed as they carefully descended the steps from the platform, then Lilly said, "At least we know Luanne made it," drawing another laugh from Miley.

Once everyone had received their diplomas, the graduates stood as a class and shifted their tassels on their mortarboard caps from one side to the other, marking them as high school graduates. Principal Young paused for a moment, then he smiled and announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Seaview High School's Class of 2010." This time the cheers, roars, whistles and applause were the loudest of the night as the new graduates hurried off the floor and outside.

Once the seniors were outside, the families and friends began to file out as well. Out in the parking lot the seniors had gathered in a large mass, then as one they tossed their caps up into the air with loud cheers. Cameras flashed, capturing the moment from a hundred different perspectives, then gravity took over and brought the caps back down in a haphazard fashion. Now everyone was laughing and giggling as they tried to figure out which cap was theirs, and after a few minutes all the caps seemed to be sorted out.

Miley and Lilly broke apart from the throng of golden robes, moving off to the side toward Oliver, Ashley and their mothers. Both Oliver's mother and Ashley's mother were smiling, and they seemed to be talking in a friendly manner.

"Hey," Lilly said, playfully shoving Oliver as she and Miley reached them.

"Hey yourself," Oliver said, shoving Lilly back with equal pressure and a smile in return.

"Hi Ms. D, Ms. O," Miley said, waving to both mothers and getting waves in reply.

"Congratulations, girls," said Oliver's mother, her deep voice still not what the girls expected to come out her mouth.

"Yes, it is a great achievement for all of you," said Kimiyo. "Picture, please."

The four of them gathered together, Miley, Lilly, Oliver and then Ashley, as both mothers snapped pictures of the four friends. As they began to move apart, a loud yell from behind them made all of them jump, then Miley felt herself grabbed from behind and lifted up into the air.

"My little sister didn't fail out of school!" yelled Jackson as he jumped around, holding Miley up in the air.

Miley shrieked, "Jackson! Put me down!" but to no avail, as he continued to spin her around.

Lilly grabbed Jackson's arm and tugged on it. "Hey, you big lug, put her down before she gets motion sick," she said playfully.

"Nope, I get to do this all night if I want to," Jackson said gleefully, enjoying his sister's discomfort. "And nobody here can make me put her down!"

"Wanna bet?" came a voice from behind Lilly. Kaela stepped forward, her red hair once again hanging long and loose down her back as she folded her arms and fixed her husband with a smile.

"Oh, let me try first," said a voice similar to Miley from behind Kaela. Luanne took a position beside her secret sister-in-law, matching her stance exactly but with a bit more meanness in her smile. She was dressed as casually as Jackson and Kaela were, and her hair remained the same short length and reddish hue it had been just a few weeks earlier when Miley and Lilly had seen her.

"Okay, you win," Jackson said dejectedly as he set Miley back down. "Spoilsports."

"Aww, I'll make it up to you later tonight, hot stuff," Kaela said with a smirk as she hugged Jackson, putting a smile on his face.

"Aww... I won't!" Luanne said sarcastically, causing Miley to sputter with laughter, narrowly missing spitting on her wife who was laughing just as wildly.

Robbie Ray and Phil and Meredith Truscott joined the small group then, shaking hands and sharing laughs as everyone took pictures of this once-in-a-lifetime moment. After a few minutes Ashley loudly said, "Okay, we have to go make sure everything is set up for the graduation party tonight at my house. You two coming?" she asked, pointing at Miley and Lilly.

"Oh yeah," Miley said. "We ain't missing one of your parties."

"Good," Ashley said with a smile. "Luanne, will you come too, please?" she asked. "And Jackson, I expect you and Kaela there too."

"Well heck, I might just crash that shindig too!" said Robbie Ray, getting laughs from all the parents.

Kimiyo thought for a minute, then she said, "There is enough room for all of you to come, and having more parents would certainly help me watch these girls and boys a bit more effectively." Ashley stuck her tongue out at her mother but didn't get even a hint of a smile in return.

Miley and Lilly looked at each other. Having their parents there could certainly put a damper on the party, but the two of them knew that Robbie Ray, Phil and Meredith would be able to keep an eye on things without seeming intrusive or oppressive. Hopefully they could show Kim and Oliver's mother how to do the same.

"Well, Lilly and I are gonna stop by the house and get our swimsuits, plus we need to change," said Miley. "We'll see ya'll there!" She took Lilly's hand and the two of them initially started for their car, but after a few steps they both stopped at the same time. They turned to look at each other and simultaneously said, "Ms. Hughes!"

"We forgot to thank her!" said Lilly.

"Or say goodbye!" added Miley. They hurried over to the shrinking knot of golden robes, now interspersed with clothes both casual and dressy. They peered through the mob for a few seconds, then Lilly caught a glimpse of intensely red hair.

"I see her, Miles," Lilly said, leading her wife through the crowd. Soon they were standing beside Cassie Hughes, who was talking to a small group of parents. As they reached the young teacher, Cassie turned and smiled at them. She finished talking to the parents, then she turned to the two young women.

"Congratulations, ladies!" Cassie said happily, hugging both of them at once.

"Thanks, Ms. Hughes," Lilly said.

"Yeah, thank you so much for everything you did for us this year," added Miley. "You're a really great teacher..."

"...and just as great a friend," finished Lilly. A wicked grin slid across her face as she looked at Miley briefly. "So, any plans to stop by the party tonight?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Miley, teeth showing in her grin. "There might be someone special there tonight..." she said teasingly.

Cassie shook her head, smiling. "You two are just too much," she said. "No playing matchmaker tonight!" She looked at her watch and said, "I'll have you know that I already have plans for tonight, anyway."

"A date? With who?" asked Miley, her jaw dropping.

"That," Cassie said with an equally mischievous grin, "is none of your business. Not yet, at least."

Miley playfully pointed her index finger at Cassie. "The secret doesn't exist that Miley Truscott can't--" Lilly's fingers on Miley's chin stopped Miley's words instantly.

"It's none of our business, Miles, not until Ms. Hughes wants to tell us. She _is_ entitled to _some_ secrets, you know."

Miley looked a bit disappointed, but she relented. "Okay, hon. I guess you're right."

Cassie paused, then she leaned forward and kissed each girl on the cheek. "Have a good time tonight girls, and enjoy your summer. When do you start at USC?"

"Freshmen orientation is in July for us," Lilly said. Miley was still halfway pouting. "We promise to keep in touch." Cassie had given the girls her cell phone number some months ago, and they both made sure to keep it well-guarded.

"How about if we do lunch or something next week?" Cassie asked.

"It'll have to be in about two weeks or so," Lilly said. "We're flying out to Tennessee to spend some time with Miley's family out there."

"Then you ladies call me when you get back into Malibu, okay?"

"We will, we promise," Lilly said, giving Miley a look to try and break her half-pout. "Okay, off to the party at Ashley's then!"

"Be careful, and have fun!" Cassie added, waving as they walked away.

Once they were out of earshot, Miley opened her mouth to say something, but Lilly quickly cut her off. "We'll have Oliver find out just who she's seeing once we get to the party," Lilly said, the corners of her mouth curling up into a smile.

Miley's mouth was frozen in place momentarily, then she said, "Oh." After a pause, she asked, "So what was all that about it being okay for her to have some secrets?"

"Oh, I just made that up," Lilly said. "It'd drive me nuts not knowing who she was sneaking out to meet. Wouldn't it you?"

Miley grinned as she pulled her best friend closer. "I love you, Lillian Truscott," she said tenderly.

"Good thing, 'cause I'm not going anywhere. And I love you too, Miley May Rock Star Pop Princess Hottest Girl On the Face Of the Earth Stewart Truscott." Lilly turned and quickly kissed Miley on the side of her neck, enjoying the flush of heat that her touch brought to her lover. "I love you too."

**Afterword:** Sorry for the delay, but I wanted to get this chapter right. Several times I thought I was through with it, then it'd throw another curve at me, wanting more attention. Now, however, it seems satisfied. For now. Next chapter brings us a party in Malibu, then we head back to Tennessee for a chapter or two as our heroines kick back and relax. Plus Robbie Ray has a surprise graduation gift for his girls... but I'm not spoiling the surprise!

Jo


	21. Chapter 21: Tennessee Summer

**Author's Note:** Hey everyone! Welcome back, and thank you for reading along! I hope you're having a great time following the adventures of our heroines Miley and Lilly, because I'm still enjoying bringing their stories to all of you. I hope their love is a source of inspiration for all my readers, because it certainly has provided a light for me on my darkest days. I've recently found another outstanding Liley story titled "The Long Way," by a writer named **cutflowers** here on this site. If you haven't read it or the preceding story "Amiss," please take some time to find those stories and read them. The emotional wealth and overall depth of the characters is breathtaking, and it's absolutely terrific writing.

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_ Since we're going back to Misty Hollow, Tennessee, let me remind everyone of the Stewart family members who might not be as familiar to readers (especially readers who haven't read "All I Want," which introduced most of these characters).

_**Cast of Characters (Miley's Family in Tennessee)**_

**Ruthie Stewart** – Miley's grandmother

**Dolly Stewart** and **Vickie Burns** – Miley's aunts, Robbie Ray's sisters

**Bobby Ray Stewart** – Luanne's daddy, Miley's uncle and Robbie Ray's twin brother

**Noel Stewart** – Bobby Ray's wife and Luanne's stepmother

**Earl** and **Pearl Stewart** – Robbie Ray's brother and sister-in-law, Miley's uncle and aunt

**David Burns** – Vickie's older son, Miley's cousin

**Heath **and** Andy Burns** – David's sons, now eight and six years old

**Paul Burns** – Vickie's younger son, Miley's cousin

**Peyton** and **Melody Burns** – Paul's daughters, now ten and nine years old

**Todd Gentry** – neighbor of the Stewarts who grew up with Miley, Jackson, and Luanne and held a crush on Miley for years.

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 21: Tennessee Summer

_A true friend_

_You're here 'til the end_

_You pull me aside when something ain't right_

_Cover me now and into the night_

_'Til it's alright again_

-Hannah Montana; "True Friend"

"_I'll try to be nice, because I love you, not him!"_

--Lola, as said to Hannah, on the _Hannah Montana_ episode "He Ain't a Hottie, He's My Brother" (Just let our girls admit it already, Disney, _please!_ They deserve to be happy!)

As the roar of the jet's engines reverberated through the small aircraft, Miley closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the pillow she had brought with her. Lilly was stretched out across the love seat, her head resting snugly in Miley's lap as the plane surged down the runway. Miley focused on her breathing as she felt the first thump of the front wheel leaving the ground, followed quickly by the firmer thump of the rear wheels doing the same, then her body felt the exciting sensation of the jet suddenly under its own power, its aerodynamics and engines somehow capable of keeping gravity at bay. As her stomach flipped slightly, she felt the jet change headings as it continued to slowly climb.

"You mind to toss me a pillow, Miley?" asked Luanne, sitting sideways in an oversized chair several feet away. "Please?" She belatedly added a smile, overly exaggerated but still charming in a roguish sort of way.

Miley grabbed a soft yellow pillow and tossed it to her sister. Luanne caught the pillow and realized it looked new. She squeezed it and was pleasantly surprised by how fluffy and soft it was. "This pillow feels new," she said. "Isn't it one of the ones on your bed?"

"It's one of our backups," Miley said as she grabbed a second pillow with a similar pastel yellow pillowcase. This pillow looked anything but new; it sagged in a few places and was obviously well-used.

"Miles, that old one will be great with me," Luanne said. "I mean, you brought this good pillow, so you two use it." She tossed the new pillow back to Miley, only to have her sister catch it and fling it right back to Luanne.

"Uh uh," Miley said, hugging the worn pillow to her chest. "This one's mine."

"Do you two mind to not be throwing things back and forth over my face?" Lilly said, only her lips moving as she continued to lie there with her eyes closed. "It makes me a bit nervous."

Miley smiled as she looked at her sister, who rolled her eyes and tucked the fluffy pillow behind her head as she curled up in the chair. It was going to be about a two and a half hour flight to Knoxville, maybe less if they could ride a good tailwind, and none of the girls were really awake yet. It wasn't quite seven in the morning Malibu time, and the three of them planned on sleeping most of the flight. Miley rested her head against the pillow, her face half buried in its comforting embrace, and immediately felt herself begin to relax. She idly stroked her lover's silky blonde hair with her left hand as she started to drift off.

"What's so special about that pillow anyway?"

Miley slightly opened her eyes, just enough to see Luanne staring at the two of them, her expression quite similar to that of a curious cat. "It smells like the woman I love," she said simply before she closed her eyes again and instantly fell asleep.

For a few seconds Luanne looked closely at the two people she knew would always be there for her, no matter what. She took in how peaceful they looked, Lilly's head in Miley's lap and Miley's arm resting on Lilly's chest, Miley's left hand and Lilly's right hand nestled together efficiently. _Watching them together is proof that some of us really do have a true love out there somewhere._ She smiled and closed her eyes as she started to think of Ron. It was still odd at times, feeling happy so much, but Luanne was finally allowing herself to enjoy it rather than dread the possibility of it all going away. _He does care about me, and I care about him. Is that it, or is it going to grow into more? Do I __want__ it to grow into more?_ Before she could untangle the truth from her subconscious, Luanne slipped into the peace of slumber, and this sleep was a gentle, peaceful one.

As the plane touched down in Knoxville, Lilly found herself excited again about seeing their extended family. The previous times she and Miley had spent time in Tennessee had been during the winter, and this was going to be the first summer she had spent any time in Misty Hollow. Miley had already filled her in on going to one of her favorite swimming holes, seeing the beauty of the Tennessee flowers and woods in full bloom, camping without having to huddle together because of the freezing cold...

Lilly frowned a bit there. The huddling together in a sleeping bag was pretty darn good._ Maybe we could keep __that part._ As the plane came to a halt, she and Miley both hurriedly stood up, eager to get off the plane. However, one last lurch forward sent them tumbling together to the floor. As they fell, Lilly managed to grab Miley and soften her fall somewhat, resulting in them lying on the carpet of the jet together in a haphazard embrace. Lilly looked up into Miley's twinkling blue eyes, and without even looking at her wife's lips she knew that Miley had just a hint of a smile on her face. _Oh, we are DEFINTELY keeping the huddling together in a sleeping bag part._

"Thanks," Miley said as she eased forward and gently kissed Lilly on the lips, lingering for a few seconds before she ever so slightly pulled back and gave a teasingly light lick to Lilly's warm lips.

"Welcome," Lilly said, unable to suppress either her own grin or her body's response to a kiss from her best friend. In fact, she had no desire to slow either response down whatsoever. She had grown to love the sensation of her heart speeding up at Miley's kisses or touches or grins, at her mouth alternating between watering or going bone dry when she felt the tender caress of her lover's fingertips on any part of her body. Those little signs were God's proof that Lilly needed Miley's touch to be truly alive, to feel whole and complete, and each shiver up her arm or down her back was a living testament to the intensity of the love between the two best friends.

"You gonna let me go?" Miley asked, the hint of a smile now evident as Lilly's eyes danced across Miley's cute face.

Lilly shook her head slowly. "Not a chance."

Luanne crouched down beside the two of them and whispered, "Get a room," then she jumped back out of reach, a smile on her face as Miley swung an open hand at her head but came up well short. "You two are so much fun to tease," she said, her eyes now twinkling much like Miley's had been just moments ago. She slipped on a cap, tucking her hair underneath it as she opened the door to the small cabin they had been traveling in. Miley and Lilly had already tucked their longer hair underneath their own caps, concealing their true identities from the crew of Hannah's private jet.

Miley stood, helping Lilly to her feet. "Yeah, but you still love us, sis." As soon as the word had slipped out her mouth, she reflexively shot a hand up to her mouth, trying to catch the words before they escaped but coming up a bit late. She nervously looked around the airplane, but no one seemed to be close enough to them to have heard. _Sorry_, she mouthed to Luanne and Lilly, but neither of them looked particularly upset.

Luanne simply shrugged, but the pale cast to her face indicated that she was significantly more nervous that her body language revealed. As she turned around to walk to the jet's door, she felt a firm hand grip her shoulder, then she felt first Lilly's arms and then Miley's arms hug her from behind. "It's okay," she whispered, more to herself than to Miley and Lilly. "It's okay."

As Luanne stepped forward and walked to the door of the jet, Miley turned and looked at Lilly, her face lined with guilt and worry.

"It's okay, hon," Lilly said, rubbing Miley's back. "Nobody heard, and even if they did, so what?"

Miley nodded and smiled. Lilly was right. If anyone had heard, he or she would assume that the girls were just talking symbolically, not literally. "Thanks," she said as she took her partner's hand as they walked to the jet's door and then out and down the steps. "Again."

As they touched the ground, Lilly hugged Miley as soon as the slightly taller girl stopped and turned around to face her wife. "You're welcome again," she said with a smile. "Has your dad told you anything yet about the surprise?"

Miley shook her head. "Not a darn thing. It must have something to do with Hannah and Lola, though. I mean, why else would he want us to bring an outfit of theirs?"

Lilly shook her head as the two of them walked over to where Luanne and Robbie Ray were standing, next to two Chevrolet Impalas, one silver and the other a midnight blue.

"Okay ladies," said Robbie Ray as he handed Miley and Lilly a clipboard, "you two sign for this here rental car, and then we can get on our way. I'm droppin' Anna Lee here off to get her car on the way."

Luanne smiled at the use of her Hannah name. She had adapted quickly to having an alter ego, and honestly she found that being allowed into Miley and Lilly's other world was one of the most caring, trusting gestures anyone had ever made to her. _No surprise that it was Miley and Lilly who went out of their way to make me feel included. They've just got so much love in their hearts that they don't know what to do with it. And I'll always be thankful for that._ "You two got big plans for today?" she asked Miley and Lilly.

"Don't we always?" answered Lilly quickly, a grin on her face.

Luanne nodded. "You got me there," she said pleasantly. She leaned forward, hugging Miley and Lilly. "Be careful, and I'll see you two afterwhile."

"Same to you," Miley said in reply. Lilly just smiled. She was content to let Miley speak for her at times, and the three of them understood that with no need for further explanation. She handed the clipboard with the rental car agreement now signed back to her father, who handed them a set of keys.

"You two be careful, alright?" he asked.

"Always," Miley answered. "Especially when I'm drivin' my wife around."

Lilly just smiled and hugged Miley tightly, right before she planted a kiss on her girlfriend's cheek. "You take good care of me, sweetheart. You always have."

Miley frowned just a bit. "Not always."

Lilly stepped forward just enough to get in front of Miley, her expression serious. "Yes, always. Whenever you had a little slip-up, you always made it up to me and then some. So as far as I'm concerned, you're perfect."

Robbie Ray watched the little exchange as he wrestled to maintain his poker face. It was quite difficult, given that his wife had said much the same to him once, a long time ago. He leaned over and softly said to his daughter, "It's best to just agree when you're in this situation, darlin'. Trust me."

Miley looked up at her father, then a grin spread across her face. "Okay," she said, then she turned back to Lilly, now smiling.

"Good. Smart girl." Lilly gave Miley a quick kiss on the lips, then she snatched the keys from her girlfriend's hand. "I'm driving." As Miley stepped to the side, Lilly smiled at her father-in-law. "Thanks," she said.

Robbie Ray smiled beneath his fake mustache. "My words of wisdom don't even earn a hug from my second daughter?" he teased.

Lilly stood still, seemingly deep in thought for a second or two, then she said, "I guess they've earned that." She stepped forward only to be wrapped up and picked off the ground by Robbie Ray.

"Thank you, darlin'," he said, his voice surprisingly emotional.

"For what?" Lilly asked, a bit caught off guard by his reaction. Being a foot off the ground didn't much help her composure either.

It took a long moment for Robbie Ray to continue, but finally he said, "A daddy wants only the best for all his kids, but especially for his little girl. And for my little girl, that's exactly what you are. The best she could ever have."

Lilly felt her eyes start to water as she looked down at the man who had been her second father long before she and Miley ever began dating. "Thanks," was all she could say, as the tears threatened to burst forth if she said anything more. She leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead, and in that simple gesture so much was conveyed.

"I got somethin' to show you two later this evenin'," Robbie Ray said as he placed Lilly back on her feet.

"Is it the surprise?" Miley asked, hurrying back over. She placed her hand in the small of Lilly's back as she stood beside the woman she loved.

Robbie Ray shook his head. "No, it ain't the surprise. But it's somethin' I've been wantin' to show you for a long time now. I had your Mamaw keep it for me, so you two wouldn't find it snoopin' around the house."

"We do not snoop!" said Miley as her expression became one of righteous indignation. Lilly and Robbie Ray both turned to look at her in silence. "Well, okay, maybe a little bit," she said in a much softer voice. "But I prefer to think of it as healthy curiosity!"

Lilly sputtered, just getting her head turned in time to keep from spraying Miley. As she wiped her mouth, she muttered, "Yeah. Healthy curiosity."

Miley turned to look at Lilly. She was finding it hard to keep her face serious at this point. "You're supposed to be supporting me, you know."

Lilly nodded. "Totally supportive," she said, standing up straight again. She moved to stand beside Miley as she slipped her arm around her wife. And then she pinched Miley's butt quite firmly.

"HEY!" yelled Miley, but before she even touched down from her leap forward, Lilly was already hurrying to the car. By the time Miley made it to the car, Lilly was safe and secure in the driver's seat, a cheeky grin on her face as she waved at Miley through the window. "Oooooh..." Miley said as she walked around the car to the passenger side.

"Be nice, bud," Robbie Ray said as he gave his daughter a hug as she opened the car door. "See you two at Mamaw's."

"Bye Daddy," Miley said, then she sat down in the car and closed the door. "I'm getting' you back for that one, you know," she said to Lilly.

Lilly just grinned. "I was counting on it," she replied pleasantly. "You want me face down or face up when you collect?" she added, a slight blush coloring her face as she smiled her naughty smile, the one that always sent Miley's blood pumping harder.

"We'll start with face down," Miley replied, swallowing a bit as her throat abruptly went dry. "I like how cute your butt is when it's up in the air just waiting on me to touch you. It's got this little shiver in it..."

Now both girls were blushing slightly as the foreplay was starting a bit earlier than either had planned. Being in Tennessee always put a thrill in their lovemaking, for several different reasons. The beauty of the area was romantic in itself, and it being different from where the girls spent most of their time also heightened the amorous feelings between the two young women. But for both of them, the most powerful reason that being in Tennessee intensified their desire for each other was that it very tangibly showed that Lilly was and always would be a part of the family. Here they were accepted, their love for each other known by all of Miley's family, and while there had been some bumps in the road from time to time with a few family members, by now everyone had seen just how powerful the love between the two young women truly was. Even if a member of the family still personally didn't understand or agree with their love for each other, that love was at the very least accepted and respected. It was simply part of who Miley and Lilly were, just like their height, their smiles or their personalities.

They moved forward to kiss, and there was no pretext of the kiss being a gentle one. They hungrily pressed their lips against each other, each wanting more of the other than could safely be given at this moment. After several seconds, Lilly came to her senses and pulled back. Their lips separated with a soft pop from the wetness of their mouths, making both girls lick their lips. While neither of them had reapplied their lip gloss since boarding the plane back in Los Angeles, Lilly could still taste a touch of Miley's orange-pineapple gloss, and she savored that hint of her lover's taste. "We need to get to Misty Hollow," Lilly said, her speech slightly strained as she worked to breathe.

"Yeah," said Miley, her pupils fully dilated with desire for her wife. "I want you," she said firmly, and the honesty of her words sent a shiver down Lilly's back.

"I want you too, Miles," Lilly replied as she stared into Miley's warm eyes. Here in the car it was once again safe to use names, as for now it was just the two of them. Anyone standing in the hangar outside the car had simply faded away, leaving only the two of them in their own world for this moment. "And you can do whatever you want with me when we get there."

Now it was Miley's turn to feel a cascade of shivers roll down her back. "Mmmm, I like that," she said. She could feel her body respond in yet another, more intimate way to Lilly's offer, and she unconsciously crossed her legs in response. "Hope Mamaw still has the quilts up along the walls."

"If she doesn't, then I bet she'll find something to do outside for a while," Lilly said with a grin. Last Christmas the girls had found that Ruthie had hung several thick quilts over the walls of the guest room that Miley and Lilly had always used when they came for the holidays. While nothing was said directly about the sound-insulating properties of the thick, fluffy quilts, both girls had instantly known why the quilts were there, and the two immediately fell laughing onto the bed, amused, embarrassed and grateful all at the same time.

As Lilly started the car, Miley smiled and buckled her seat belt. Lilly's was already in place, apparently buckled as soon as she had gotten into the car. "I can't help it that you turn me on so much, Mrs. Truscott," Miley said as she reached over and gently removed Lilly's cap once they were out of the hangar, doing the same with her own immediately afterward. "Ugh, I hate wearing those things. Not sure how you wear 'em so much."

"You get used to them," Lilly replied as they made their way out of the Knoxville airport and onto the main road. "But I don't wear 'em as much anymore."

"I noticed that a while back. Why not?"

Lilly glanced at Miley out of the corner of her eye quickly, then she hurriedly fixed her gaze back on the road. "Because I like it when you play with my hair," she admitted shyly. "I'm hungry," Lilly said abruptly.

"I like it when I play with your hair, too," Miley said, reaching over to gently tuck a few locks of Lilly's soft blonde hair behind her ear. "You want to stop and get anything to eat on the way to Mamaw's?"

Lilly shook her head. "Nope. Nothing's stopping this car until we're at your mamaw's."

"But--"

"I said I was hungry, Miley. I _didn't_ say it was for food."

Miley turned her body to lean back in her seat as she felt the sweat beginning to start at the small of her back. "You are _so_ bad."

Lilly smiled, then she quietly added, "I will be tonight."

The car was quiet for several minutes as the girls drove through the small town between the airport and Misty Hollow. Miley settled for holding Lilly's hand, using her other hand to gently trace little lines and patterns on the back of Lilly's hand.

As the houses finally began to separate, Lilly knew they were getting close to the foot of the mountain that shielded Misty Hollow from the rest of the county. "She's not going to mind us taking some time to make love first, Miley," Lilly tenderly said, squeezing Miley's hand as she spoke. "In fact, she'd probably be mad if we put if off, knowing her."

Miley laughed. Lilly had known exactly what she was thinking about. _Whom_ she was thinking about. "Yeah, she probably would," Miley answered. Her gaze drifted outside the car, focusing on the looming mountain ahead of them. Today it was lush and green, quite different from the dark patchwork of browns and red that decorated it during the fall and winter.

"We can walk up there after we make love, if you'd like."

Miley turned to look at Lilly. Even with the special connection they shared, sometimes Lilly could still surprise her with just how well she understood Miley, especially at times when Miley didn't think she understood herself. "I'd like that a lot, Lilly," she said, her heart swelling with happiness. "Thanks."

Lilly could feel Miley's joy growing within her own chest, and the intensity of that joy nearly took her breath away. She saw what looked like an old store ahead on the right; she slowed and pulled into the parking lot, leaving the car running as she shifted into Park. This close she could see that the store had been closed up long ago, but Lilly hadn't stopped to buy anything anyway. She popped the latch on her seatbelt and leaned across the car, wrapping Miley up in her embrace.

As Miley closed her eyes and let herself go in the warm safety of Lilly's hug, she could feel the lingering sadness of her mother's death ebb away, replaced by the glowing purity of Lilly's love and friendship. During moments like these the empathic connection between the two girls became shockingly powerful, and even now Miley could feel the love she carried for Lilly buoyed by Lilly's returned love for her. For long moments all Miley could hear was Lilly's heartbeat and breathing, all she could smell was the faint strawberry scent of Lilly's hair and skin. The only sensations that existed were the comforting touch of Lilly against her body and the fire of their love deep inside her soul.

"I told you a long time ago, silly, you're never going to have to do this alone again," Lilly said, feeling the thrumming of two hearts beating as one. "Not coming here, not being sad, not feeling down... Nothing. I'm always going to be here."

Miley leaned back to wipe her tears, but Lilly reached up and kissed them away, first her right cheek, then her left. The simple gesture sent Miley's lower lip into a quiver, but she steeled herself so she could talk. "I still thank God every day that he made us for each other," she said in a near-whisper, "and that He let us find each other as fast as He did."

"Me too, Miley," Lilly said in a matching soft voice. "Me too."

Once the girls had composed themselves, they resumed their trip. It only took another fifteen minutes to cross the mountain and descend down into the valley. Lilly had made this trip three times now, and she knew the way by heart. As they drove by the small gravel road leading to the cemetery where Miley's mother was buried, Lilly felt Miley gently squeeze her hand. She gave a little squeeze in return. They had lost three hours due to the time change, but it was still quite early in the day. Plenty of time was left to pay their respects.

Just a minute later they saw first the large barn, then the stately farmhouse that belonged to Ruthie Stewart. Lilly slowed and turned into the driveway, crossing over the bridge that spanned the small creek running parallel to the road and then driving a bit more quickly up the long driveway.

"You in a hurry or somethin', hon?" Miley asked as she noted the cloud of dust Lilly was kicking up behind them as she hurried up the driveway.

"Something like that," Lilly answered, not taking her eyes off the driveway and the farmhouse that stood at the end of it. As they reached the house, Lilly hit the brakes hard enough to crunch gravel under the wheels and send them sliding forward slightly.

"Whoa!" Miley said, bouncing back and forth in her seat. "Sweetheart, I'm not goin' anywhere. We don't have to--" She was cut off by Lilly coming across the bench seat and pinning her against the passenger door with a fiery kiss.

After some frenzied kissing, Lilly relented enough to stare into Miley's eyes, now gleaming with passion. "You most certainly _are_ going somewhere. That bed in there." Lilly pointed with her head, a single jerk in the direction of the house. "Now."

Miley fumbled behind her for the door release, quickly finding it and opening the door. Thanks to her grip on the door and Lilly's grip on her she didn't fall backwards, but it was close. Together they got out of the car and grabbed their suitcases out of the trunk. Miley slung their bathroom bag over her shoulder, then she tugged one of their big suitcases out of the trunk. However, Lilly simply threw their garment bag and shoe bag on top of the other big suitcase and then picked up the entire pile, leaving the trunk for Miley to close.

"Brat," Miley said playfully as she slammed the trunk closed and hurried after her girlfriend.

As they climbed the steps and then crossed the front porch, Lilly only hesitated a moment as she stood at the front door, then she opened the door to let Miley step inside. "Hey Ruthie!" she called out. "We made it!"

Miley smiled as she stepped inside. She and her grandmother had both told Lilly repeatedly that she didn't have to knock before she came into this house; she was family now, and she had as much right to be in this house as anyone else.

"Hello, little doodlebug!" called a voice from the room just inside the door. Lilly dropped her stack of bags and ran across the large living room to where Ruthie was sitting, sewing a quilt.

"We missed you, Mamaw," Lilly said as she dropped to her knees and gave Ruthie a warm hug. "It's good to be back here."

"It's good to have you two back," Ruthie said, patting Lilly on the back as she returned the hug. She peered up to see Miley kneeling down right before she wrapped her arms around both of them. "Glad I didn't have to wait 'til Christmas this time, Miley May," Ruthie said, giving Miley a serious look. "You two should visit more."

"We will, Mamaw, now that we're gonna have a bit more time," Miley said.

"But don't you slack on your studies," Ruthie added as Miley and Lilly stood. "College is very difficult, and you two need to have a backup plan in case the whole Hannah and Lola thing doesn't work out."

Lilly gave Miley an amused look, trying not to laugh. She and Miley could retire right then and live quite comfortably for the rest of their lives as well as take care of their future children and _their_ children. But Miley simply nodded her head and said, "Yes, ma'am. That's what we're plannin' on doin'."

"Good girls. You two are just dears." Ruthie looked back down at her sewing and resumed her work on the quilt. "This quilt's for the two of you. Should be done with it before you leave to go back to California."

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Lilly said, reaching down to feel the fabric until a slap on the back of her hand made her jerk her arm back.

"Can't touch it 'til it's done," Ruthie said matter-of-factly. "Bad luck otherwise."

Miley was struggling to not laugh, which Lilly immediately noticed. Lilly shook her hand, which really hadn't been smacked that hard; it was more the surprise of it that startled her. _But she's really treating me like one of her grandchildren_. Lilly felt a faint smile creep across her lips as she considered that, but then she felt warm fingers take her stinging hand and gently lift it up. She looked up to see Miley raise Lilly's stinging hand to her lips and then gently place a lingering kiss on the back of her hand. _Oh Miley, Miley, Miley. If only you knew what you were doing to me..._ But then every nerve in Lilly's body sprang to attention as she felt Miley give a sensual lick across the back of her hand. She met Miley's gaze, which was now smoldering with desire, desire echoed in Lilly's body as well. Lilly was speechless, held raptly by Miley's touch and gaze, but Miley managed to speak for both of them.

"We're gonna go lay down for a bit, Mamaw," Miley said, her voice a bit deeper than usual for conversation. She began to lead Lilly to the hallway that led to their guest bedroom, never releasing her grip on Lilly's hand.

All Lilly could do was silently follow where Miley led her. _At least we got out there without Mamaw making some comment to embarrass Miley and me._

"I'll turn up the TV so you girls don't have to worry about me hearing anything!" Ruthie shouted from back in the living room, making both young women walk faster as they hurried to the bedroom.

As soon as they were inside the bedroom and the door was closed, Miley essentially attacked Lilly, throwing her onto the bed as they both shed their clothes. "I want you so bad," Miley breathed as she leaned down atop her wife, kissing her deeply.

"Then take me," Lilly answered as they parted for air, her pupils bright and full as they glanced across Miley's face, taking in all the tiny details of her lover and best friend that Lilly knew so well. "I'm yours, Miley... forever."

Miley paused for a moment, matching Lilly's intense stare into her eyes. "I know," she said seriously. "And I'll never make you regret it, Lilly Bear."

Lilly reached up and gently ran her fingertips over Miley's left cheek. "And I know that," she replied, smiling up to the woman she had always been destined to be with. The woman with whom she fit together perfectly, forming a pair so complete that there was no doubt they had been created only for each other. "The only thing I'm regretting right now is that you haven't gotten my pants off yet," Lilly said, sticking the tip of her tongue out and then pulling it back in quickly.

Miley grinned as she lifted Lilly's head up for another kiss, then she set to work dispelling her wife's sole regret.

After nearly two hours, Miley awoke from the light nap she and Lilly had fallen into after making love. She felt Lilly's legs wrapped around her own, one leg threaded between Miley's and pressing in a very pleasurable spot. Instinctively Miley slid her pelvis forward, eliciting a happy sigh from Lilly and triggering a surge of pleasure in herself.

"Naughty Miley," Lilly mumbled as she buried her left hand in the dark depths of Miley's hair and pulled her lover closer for another kiss. "You feel better now, hon?"

Miley nodded as she began to kiss Lilly's warm neck, her skin still slick with delicious sweat. "Much," Miley answered. "You're gonna be sore tomorrow," she added, a bit hesitantly.

In response Lilly just looked into Miley's eyes and smiled. "It'll be worth it. You love doing that, and I love letting you."

Miley hugged Lilly even closer than the two young women already were. "It's like everything we do when we make love is just..."

"Amazing? Exciting?"

"Ahhh, I can't find the right word for it!" Miley said before she sent a puff of air straight up out of her mouth, lifting a wispy curl of her hair momentarily. "Everything just feels good, like it's something that we're _supposed_ to do."

Lilly tickled the tip of Miley's nose, getting a giggle from her girlfriend. "That's because everything we do to each other, we do it out of love, Miley. That's why it always feels so good. So right."

Miley opened her left eye and looked at Lilly out of its corner. "How'd some blonde surfer girl like you get so dang smart?" she asked teasingly.

Lilly reached down with her left hand and ran it gently across Miley's bare ribs, feeling more than hearing her wife's sharp intake of breath at her touch. Then she curled her fingers and tickled Miley, grinning at Miley's yelp and thrashing as she tried to escape Lilly's now-firm grasp on her.

"Lilly! AH!" Miley shouted as Lilly held fast with her legs, arms and body, refusing to be dislodged. "AHH! You stinker! STOP!" She rolled over, ceding being on top to Lilly as she tried to escape.

Lilly smiled and relented, ceasing her tickling and then kissing Miley on the nose. "Now that you're awake, let's go see your mom," she said as she tucked Miley's long curls out of her face.

Miley simply looked up and smiled. There was no fear now in seeing her mother, no trepidation. She had Lilly to thank for that, too. In fact, the more Miley thought about it, the more she realized just how much of her happiness was tied to the beautiful blonde tomboy leaning over her. _Without Lilly, life would be..._

Pushing that thought from her mind, Miley said, "Okay. I think she'll be happy to see us." As they got up from the bed and got dressed, Miley's mind completed her earlier thought unbidden. _Without Lilly, life would be survival. Nothing more. No happiness, no joy, no anticipation of birthdays or anniversaries or parties or concerts. It would all collapse to nothing without Lilly._ Miley shivered as she suppressed the unwanted imaginings of such a life as they sprang unbidden from her unconscious, clamoring for her attention.

"Hey," Lilly said as her head popped out of the neck hole in her shirt. "You okay, Miles?"

Miley nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm good. Just trying to push some negative thoughts back out'a my head."

Lilly looked at Miley knowingly. She had a very good idea at what type of thoughts would be bothering Miley right now, since they were getting ready to visit her mother's grave. _She's still worried about something happening to me. She knows I'll never leave her, even that way, but she's still worrying._ Lilly handed Miley her shirt as the slightly taller brunette finished fastening her powder blue bra. Lilly smiled to try and lighten the mood as she said, "Sweetheart, I swear you're never going to get rid of me. Even if something bad were to happen, I'll always be with you." Miley kept her head down as she pulled her shirt over her head. Lilly stepped over and tipped Miley's chin up until she was looking into Miley's eyes. "Hey," Lilly said, her smile now gone and her face serious. "Miley, please let me take this worry from you. You had thought your mom was gone too, but she still tries to look out for us, right?"

Miley nodded slowly, seeing Lilly's point. "I know you're never going to leave me, Lilly, but--"

"_But_ nothing," Lilly interrupted. She put her arms across Miley's shoulders, crossing them at her wrists behind Miley's head so she was holding Miley. "I swore to love you and be with you forever, Miley May Stewart Truscott, and I'm keeping that promise. So stop worrying about that."

Miley looked a bit embarrassed. "Okay," she agreed. "I love you, Lilly. For everything that you do and everything that you say. For everything you _are_."

Lilly smiled. "Love you too. Now let's start walking. Your mom's waiting."

After telling Ruthie where they were going, Miley and Lilly set off for the cemetery, walking down the narrow, winding road that served the Hollow. It was barely big enough for two cars to pass, often with a bank, trees, a drop-off or some combination of the three along its edges. Lilly could see why this road was so dangerous during the winter, even before it started to ascend the mountain. Today, however, it was nothing short of beautiful. "Miley, is it like this all the time in the summer?" she asked, taking in all the trees and flowers surrounding them.

"Yeah, it's really cool, huh?" Miley answered, unable to keep a smile off her face. "See the squirrel?" she said, pointing off to the side of the road ahead of them.

"Oh, it's so adorable!" Lilly said, the pitch of her voice rising into the "cute zone," as Miley liked to call it. "It's eating a little nut!"

The squirrel stood a little straighter, then it abruptly took off, leaping twice before scampering up a nearby tree. Ahead of them the sound of a car signaled its approach.

"Scoot off the road a bit," Miley said. Lilly followed her, carefully watching her step.

The car turned a corner ahead of them, revealing itself to be a small red sedan of some sort. As it approached them, it began to slow, then finally stopped. "Miley Stewart?" said a woman's voice from inside the car, surprise lacing the words.

"Yeah..." Miley said, carefully stepping back into the road and walking around to the driver's window. Lilly followed behind her girlfriend, curious to see who this was. "Oh my gosh!" said Miley excitedly as she looked into the car. "Amy!"

"Yes!" said the teenager driving the car. She was roughly Miley's and Lilly's age, with short black hair and sunglasses pushed up on top of her head. "I thought you moved to Nashville!"

Miley turned to Lilly, grinning. "Lilly, this is Amy Hearon. We went to grade school together until I moved! We used to run around together all the time growin' up." Miley took Lilly's hand and pulled her forward until they were standing beside each other. "Amy, this is Lilly." Miley looked at Lilly and smiled. "The most amazing person in the entire world," she added.

"Hey Lilly. You two meet in Nashville?" Amy asked.

"No, California," Lilly clarified. "Malibu, where we live now."

"California?" Amy said, her eyes big. "Lord have mercy, what in the world made you move all the way out there, Miley?"

Miley scuffed her shoe on the rough paving of the road. "Daddy got a job out there writing songs, and then after Momma died, we just--"

"_What?_" Amy said hurriedly. "Oh Miley, I am so sorry. She was one of the finest ladies I ever met in my life."

"We're, uh, kind of on our way to see her now," Miley said. "She's buried in the cemetery up the road."

Lilly put her arm around Miley. This was easier for Miley than it used to be, but Lilly thought that it would probably never be easy. "We always stop and say hello to her whenever we come back here."

Amy looked a bit unsettled, and truthfully she was. She had been pleased to see her old friend, and the last thing she had wanted to do was dredge up painful memories. "I'll let you two go pay your respects, then. Some of us are goin' into West Town Mall and then the movies later this evenin'. Ya'll wanna come with us?"

Lilly gently said, "Whatever you want to do, Miles."

Miley considered for a minute, then her smile came back out. "That sounds like fun," she said. "What time?"

"Probably around five or so. We're not sure what we're gonna see yet."

"Okay, we'll meet you there. Nobody's gonna mind us taggin' along?" Miley asked.

Amy shook her hand and waved her left hand dismissively. "Heck no. Plus I bet that Jane and Kristy will be plumb tickled to see you again!"

Miley's mouth fell open. "Oh my gosh! You still run around with them?"

"'Fraid so," Amy said with a guilty smile. "May be a few others comin' tonight, too. Our graduation is Thursday, and those of us who got exempt from semester tests have a couple days off while everyone else is takin' theirs." She started her car back up. "I'll see you two later this evenin'." She waved at Lilly and added, "Nice to meet ya, Lilly! You take good care of this little troublemaker here."

"Oh, it's a full-time job," Lilly said happily, waving back with her free hand. As Amy drove off, Lilly and Miley resumed their walk. "I think I like her."

"Yeah, Amy was always great," Miley said. "Jane and Kristy were never really good friends with me, but we still played together. It might be nice to see them again."

They walked in silence for a while, finally reaching the gravel road leading to the small cemetery. As they followed the small road deeper into the woods, the sound of gravel crunching underneath their feet proved to be a steady companion for them. Lilly noted that Miley was quieter than usual. Normally she would talk, sometimes nervously, as they drove to the cemetery. But now she was quiet. "Penny for your thoughts," Lilly said, lightly bumping shoulders with Miley.

Miley sighed lightly before she answered. "I don't want anyone to say anything ugly to you tonight," she finally admitted.

"Why would they?" asked Lilly, confused as to why such an event would happen. After all, she was planning on behaving herself, because she was interested in meeting some of her wife's old friends and listening to—. "Oh," she said simply as she realized.

"Yeah," said Miley, her voice a bit glum. "I don't care what they say to me, but I don't want anyone being ugly to you, Lilly."

Lilly stopped suddenly, and with a tug on Miley's hand she spun her best friend around to face her. "Stop it, Miley," she said softly. "You do too care what they say to you, just like I care what they say to me. We're a lot more protective of each other than we are of ourselves when it comes to that, but it still hurts when people say cruel things. And with them being old friends that you grew up with, I can understand why you're worried about how they react when they find out we're together." Lilly hesitated before she continued. She hated to ask this question, because it went against what they believed in, but she was willing to make a sacrifice for her Miley. "Would you... like us to keep it a secret tonight? When we're with them?" she asked slowly.

Miley's face quivered for a second, but then she shook her head resolutely. "No. Absolutely not."

Lilly's heart soared again at Miley's honest answer. _Thank you for not being ashamed of us. Of our love and our life together._ "Okay," she said, smiling as she gave Miley a quick kiss on the cheek.

Miley took Lilly's hand as they began to slowly walk again. The crunching of the gravel gave way to the soft sounds of feet on a stone path as Miley moved behind Lilly and wrapped both her arms around her wife as they carefully walked. "I'm never going to hide our relationship, Lilly. It's part of who I am, and I'm proud to have such a terrific partner in my life."

"I like that word," Lilly said, leaning back against Miley slightly. "Partner. That sums it up really well. But I still like wife, too."

"You're both of 'em to me. Oh, and sex slave too."

"Pfff. _You _are_ my_ sex slave, woman. And you love it."

Miley grinned. "Yeah, I do. Now watch what you say, you might embarrass Momma."

Lilly looked down. Sure enough, there before them was the large headstone that marked the resting place of Brooke Stewart, Miley's mother. Lilly sat down in front on the large polished granite stone and kissed her fingers. She then pressed her fingertips against the carved name centered on the headstone. "Hi, Mrs. Stewart," Lilly said softly.

Miley knelt down as well, resting on her knees beside Lilly as she used her fingers to place her own kiss on her mother's headstone. "Hey Momma," Miley said, her voice soft but much more secure than it had been the first time Lilly had accompanied her here to this sacred place. "We just graduated high school. It still hasn't really sunk it yet, but we're gonna be goin' to college in a few months."

"We got into USC, which isn't too far from our house in Malibu," Lilly continued. "Miley's still not sure what she's going to major in, but I think she should go into finance or marketing."

Miley rolled her eyes. "Finance?"

"You do really good with managing our money, Miles."

"With Daddy's help."

"You've learned a lot from him, honey. But I still think you'd do great in marketing."

"Not singing?" Miley asked, a smirk on her face.

"Uh, no. Too obvious." Lilly took Miley's hand, then she looked back at the cool gray of the stone beside them. "I got accepted into the Acting program in the Performing Arts college."

Miley rubbed a soft patch of bright green moss beside the headstone. "Lilly thinks she might want to teach drama when it's time for us to retire from our other jobs, Momma. I think that she'd make a great teacher, and I bet you do too."

"Thanks," Lilly said, giving a glance at her friend. "I'll make sure Miley goes to class, Mrs. Stewart. Don't you worry about that."

"Oh, please!" Miley said, laughing. "Who blew off class the other day because she had surfed too hard the day before?"

Lilly snickered as she remembered that day clearly. "And who was cuddled up in bed with me that whole day?" she asked sweetly.

Miley smiled at Lilly. "You're a bad influence on me, Truscott."

"The worst," Lilly said as she leaned forward and captured Miley's lips in a deep kiss. "But I love you with all my heart and soul."

Miley shifted position, pulling Lilly into her lap as she leaned back against the smooth, cold stone. Words would have been inadequate to fully express her feelings at that moment, so instead she let her lips express them in a different way as she held her Lilly tightly.

In the woods just outside the boundary of the cemetery, a woman with long, chestnut-brown hair and sparkling eyes of blue smiled as she watched her daughter and daughter-in-law express their love and devotion for each other. Seeing what had been a place of tears for her daughter become a place of love brought tears of joy to her eyes, and she marveled again at how powerful the bond between the two young women in front of her had become. She composed herself after only a few tears had fallen, and she silently blew them both a kiss. The wind complied with her wishes, gathering itself into a light breeze that covered the peaceful cemetery, finally brushing lightly against Miley and Lilly.

The two young women stopped at the touch of the gentle breeze. "Do you think your mom's here?" Lilly asked as she looked into Miley's eyes.

Miley thought for a few seconds, then she said, "Yeah, I do."

"Me too," Lilly said, smiling at the Tennessee girl she loved more than anything else before she looked up at the blue sky. "We love you, Mrs. Stewart. Thanks for everything you've done for us."

Miley swallowed and said, "Love you, Momma. I promise we'll always make you proud of us."

As the faint figure of Brooke Stewart began to fade, she whispered, "You always have, girls. And I love you too."

**Afterword:** I wasn't expecting to cry when I started writing this chapter, but something about that cemetery always moves me deeply whenever Miley and Lilly are there. I think it's because of how intensely private a place it is for Miley, and how big a deal it is that she wants Lilly there with her. The intensity of Miley's feelings about her mother can be overwhelming to read or to write, and I often feel like I can't do an adequate job of conveying them with words. Just know that I'm doing my best. Next chapter we get to meet some of Miley's old friends. How exactly _are_ they going to react when they realize the nature of our heroines' relationship?

Sorry about updates taking close to two weeks again. We had lots going on between this chapter and the last one, including moving my office to a much better (and affordable) location, but most of the moving headache is over now, thankfully. Still no Internet in my new office, but hopefully that'll be fixed sometime this week. I'll try to keep the updates as timely as possible, but I want to make sure that I've done the story justice before I post anything. See you soon, and hope life is treating you well!

Jo


	22. Chapter 22: A Really Awesome Day

**Author's Note:** I hope last chapter wasn't _too_ sweet and lovey-dovey for everyone. I'm not quite sure why the story was giving me all those signals while I was working on it, but I just wrote what it was telling me to write. As always, I greatly appreciate everyone's time and reviews. While this particular story is approaching its end, there are still several little surprises in store for everyone.

For everyone who caught last week's Hannah Montana episode "He's Ain't a Hottie, He's My Brother" (which my DirecTV is still calling "No Sweat Sweat")... um, yeah. There was a bit of subtext between Miley and Lilly. Well, okay, a _LOT_ of subtext. Take your pick at what part you thought was most obvious. I personally loved Lilly's just walking right into Miley's room without knocking and crawling onto her bed while Miley was still asleep. That's not exactly the sort of thing that even best friends typically do with each other. It was equally telling that Miley didn't seem bothered or surprised at waking up with Lilly in her bed (except for the whole yelling in her ear part). I hadn't thought about what that particular action being in Miley's dream revealed about her subconscious until your comment, **live2rite**, but I agree, it does seem to indicate she's having some serious thoughts about Lilly being in her bed—quite literally. In fact, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to intuit something about her feeling guilty in her dream for having to lie to Lilly being a reflection of concealing certain feelings while awake...

I think I'm reading your questions correctly, **mephisto20100**, so let me try to answer them. I expect probably two more chapters for this particular story, but it might become three or four. And clues for the next story in my Lileyverse? Oh yes, there will be some. In fact, that story is banging around in my head already, just dying to come out. I think everyone will like it for several different reasons. The last chapter for this story will reveal the setting and time frame for the next one, I promise.

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_ If you'd like a refresher on Miley's family in Tennessee, please take a look at the Tennessee Cast of Characters at the beginning of Chapter 21.

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 22: A Really Awesome Day

_When the night says hello_

_Yeah, get ready to go_

_Turn it up, turn it loose_

_Yeah, you got no excuse_

_Just take a chance_

_Get out on the floor and dance_

-Miley Cyrus; "Let's Dance"

After the kissing had given way to long minutes of just peacefully holding each other in the shaded cemetery dappled with sunlight, Miley and Lilly finally began to stir. Miley stood first, stretching for a few seconds before she turned and extended a hand to help Lilly to her feet.

"Thanks, hon," Lilly said pleasantly as she stood and also stretched the kinks out of her stiff muscles.

Miley waved to the light gray granite headstone. "Bye Mom," she said, and it was a smile on her face now instead of the tears she had borne for years when she left this somber place.

Lilly also waved and said, "Bye, Mrs. Stewart. I'll keep Miley out of trouble tonight."

Miley quickly pushed Lilly's shoulder playfully, sending her girlfriend a few steps to the side. "More like me keeping you of trouble tonight, girlfriend."

"Yeah, you do a real good job of that, Miles," Lilly said, laughing. However, rather than immediately walk back over to Miley, who was pulling her hair back into a ponytail, Lilly slowly walked the length of the cemetery, looking around carefully.

Miley chewed her lip for a minute as she wrapped an elastic hairband around her long, thick hair, fixing it in place behind her head. "Is that a crack about me--"

"--coming up with all sorts of crazy plans and disguises to go with them that usually get us into weird situations?" Lilly answered. She turned around, a grin on her face. "That answer would be... YES!" She briskly walked back over to Miley, who had assumed a fake pout defense, a tactic she used very well.

"You always go along with my plans," Miley said with a pitiful voice, sticking her bottom lip out quite far.

"Who else would?" Lilly countered as she took Miley's hand to hold as they walked out of the cemetery. She was holding her own... until she heard Miley sniff. _Oh no. Not the sniffling._ Even though Lilly was ninety-nine percent sure that Miley was faking, listening to the sound of Miley crying tugged on Lilly's heart powerfully. "You don't fight fair, Miley Truscott," Lilly grumbled, her voice low and slow. "Okay, even though some of your plans _have_ been really crazy, they do usually work out well." She listened, only to hear another sniffle. Lilly sighed. "_And_ we usually have fun doing them."

Miley planted a kiss on Lilly's cheek happily. "See? I knew you had fun doing crazy things with me."

Lilly smiled as they made it back onto the road and turned back toward Ruthie's house. "Life with you is never going to be boring, Miley."

"And that's how you like it," Miley said smugly, swinging her arm forward and backward as they walked, swinging Lilly's arm along with her.

After twenty minutes they reached the driveway, but instead of following the gravel drive they stepped off the driveway and walked through the long, expansive grassy field as they made their way back to the farmhouse. "Looks like your dad's here," Lilly said as she peered ahead, seeing the silver rental car parked next to their midnight blue one.

Miley nodded. "Dang it, he's not gonna slip up and tell us what that surprise is," she said. "He's gotten too good at keepin' secrets."

"Because you've gotten just as good as figuring them out," Lilly pointed out, quite correctly.

"That's true."

The two young women walked the rest of the way across the field in silence, simply enjoying the thrill of being out in the open country and with each other. Lilly continued to look back and forth, trying to take in all the little things she was now starting to notice. The horses grazing a short distance away from them. The limbs and leaves of the trees in the woods behind the farmhouse swaying in tune with the wind. The whistles and chirps of the birds both flying overhead and hidden in the forest behind the house.

"Lilly, look," Miley said softly, pointing over to the side of the expansive field.

Lilly stood on her tiptoes and craned her neck, but all she could see in that direction was what appeared to be a half-dozen chickens. Big chickens. "What is it? Those chickens?"

Miley snickered. "Those aren't chickens, Lilly. They're wild turkeys."

"You mean like that thing that gobbled at us after Jackson and Kaela's wedding?" Lilly said, spinning to look at her wife. A hint of alarm flashed across her face, making Miley fight to maintain her composure.

"Yeah, like that," Miley said, nodding her head. "That's a flock of 'em. They're gettin' pretty bold, comin' this close to the house."

Lilly squeezed Miley's hand harder as she slid closer to her best friend. "They're not gonna attack us, are they?" she asked, the pitch of her voice rising.

Miley rolled her eyes. "No, Lilly, they're not--"

"Because we're supposed to eat them, not the other way around!" She tugged on Miley's arm, saying, "C'mon Miles, let's go!"

Miley turned to tell Lilly she was being ridiculous only to see an enormous grin on her best friend's face, with no sign of fear on her expression at all. _Dang it. She got me._

"Hah!" Lilly shouted triumphantly. "YOU thought I was really scared, didn't you?"

Miley simply smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you got me that time, Lil."

Lilly practically skipped the next few steps as they resumed their walk to Miley's grandmother's house. "Who's the country girl now?" she asked teasingly as she looked over at Miley. Suddenly she was abruptly yanked to her left and nearly off her feet by Miley. "_Hey!_ What'd you do that for?" she said heatedly.

Miley stopped and pointed behind them. "Because the 'country girl' was about to step in that there pile a' horse biscuits," she said pleasantly.

"Oh," Lilly said, her voice subdued and her head looking down. "Thanks," she said, shyly lifting her eyes to meet Miley's sapphire gaze.

"That's what friends are for," Miley said as she reached out and gently ran her hand through Lilly's silky blonde hair. "Especially best friends."

Lilly stepped forward and hugged Miley tightly. "Best friends are the coolest thing ever," she whispered as she held fast to the girl who was her best friend and so much more. "I need to go pee and take a shower, then we can head into town if you want."

Miley kissed Lilly on top of her head. "That sounds great, Lil."

Lilly patted Miley on the butt, then repositioned her right arm around Miley's waist as they resumed walking to the farmhouse. "You hop in the shower first, Miles. I need to ask Ruthie something." She didn't have to look at Miley to know when her mouth had opened to ask the question; instead Lilly just went ahead and said, "It's a surprise. Nosy."

"Hmph. Another surprise."

"Yep."

With a dramatic sigh, Miley jumped a pace ahead of Lilly as they climbed the steps up to the front porch. She opened the door to let Lilly in first, then Miley stepped inside and gave Lilly a kiss on the forehead. "I'll get in the shower first," she said to Lilly. She looked over to her grandmother and said, "Mamaw, Lilly and I are goin' into town in a bit. Some friends invited us to go the movies with them tonight."

"Sounds like fun," Ruthie said, not looking up from her quilting.

Miley winked at Lilly, then she walked down the hall. Lilly took a deep breath and slowly walked over to the couch beside Ruthie's chair. _Not sure what kind of reaction this is going to get. _"Ruthie, I need to ask you a question," Lilly said cautiously.

"Go ahead, doodlebug."

Lilly smiled. She wasn't sure exactly what a doodlebug was, but Miley assured her that it was a pet name Ruthie reserved for her favorite grandchildren. "Who owns the cemetery where Miley's mom is buried?"

Ruthie glanced over at the young woman sitting next to her. She knew Lilly was only eighteen, but it was difficult to think of the blonde that had both claimed Miley's heart and freely offered her own in return as anything but an adult. "Misty Hollow Church, right up the road," she said casually.

"So I guess that's where Miley's family went to church when they lived here, huh?"

"Yep," Ruthie said with a nod. "Most of the valley still goes there. When the old Baptist church got hit by lightnin' and caught on fire in the Fifties, the Methodist church up the road let everybody just join them for services 'til the Baptist church was rebuilt. Turned out the Methodist church was wantin' to build a church too, since the old one was built right after the Civil War ended, so both churches got together and built a bigger one on the Baptist church's property. Nobody wanted to fight over whether to call the new church Baptist or Methodist, so they just called it Misty Hollow Church and left it at that."

"And everybody got along?" Lilly asked, more than a bit surprised.

"For the most part," Ruthie said with a smile. "There's always got to be a few people who think that things ought to be done differently, and a couple of times some people have left to start a new church somewhere else. But I like this church here just fine. People are friendly, we care about each other and try to stay out of each other's business. Mostly."

_That's good to hear. _ "So... The church takes care of the cemetery?"

"Cemetery committee handles all that sort of business. Maintenance, records, buyin' and sellin' plots, all that stuff." Ruthie stopped sewing and turned to look at Lilly, her eyes peering with curiosity. "There a reason you're askin' all this, doodlebug?"

Lilly nodded. At first her voice wouldn't come out when she opened her mouth, but she quickly found her resolve. "I... I want to buy some plots in the cemetery. For Miley and me. And for any kids that we have."

Ruthie's face was unreadable, prompting Lilly to add, "That place is special to her, Mamaw, and it's special to me too. When we're up there, it's like we can feel her mother watching over us. When the wind blows, we can almost hear her whisper to us." Lilly felt a tear run down her left cheek, but she didn't raise a hand to wipe it away. "I never really understood what 'holy ground' or 'sacred ground' was until I went up there with Miley for the first time, my first Christmas here. When we left, I knew _exactly_ what it was."

Lilly looked down for a minute, examining her shoes carefully. _I probably should have taken them off when I came inside. Must have been too nervous to think of that._ "We've never talked that much about what we want done with our bodies after we die. The only thing Miley's ever said was that as long as we stayed together, anything would be okay with her." Lilly looked back up at Ruthie, her eyes red and full of tears. "I saw that there was an empty space beside Miley's mom. Is that for Mr. Stewart?"

Ruthie nodded. "Yes," she said quietly. "He's always said that he wants to be put next to her when he's gone."

"And there's space around them. I saw that too."

"Brooke, bless her heart, loved that one corner of the cemetery," Ruthie said with a sigh. "She always said it looked like it wasn't as sad as the rest of it, since there always seemed to be a little patch of sunlight there. When she and Robbie Ray bought their family plot, they were the only ones in that part of the cemetery; it's still got plenty of room there next to her."

Lilly wiped her eyes with her fingertips. "Life took Miley's mom away from her. There's nothing we can do about that. But when the time comes for Miley and me, I want us to be buried here, with her mom and dad. Even though we love California and that's where we live, this was where Miley grew up. Tennessee is always going to be part of who she is, and now it's part of who I am too." She took a deep breath, marshaling what emotional resolve she had left. "I _know_ this is where we're supposed to be buried when our lives on Earth end. And while Miley's never said anything about it, I know this is where she wants us to be put to rest. Next to her mom." Lilly's nose was running from the crying. _Ugh, I hate getting so emotional about stuff like this, but I just can't help it._

"Don't your parents have some cemetery for your family back in California?" Ruthie asked. She reached over to the end table and retrieved a box of Kleenex, handing one to Lilly.

Lilly shook her head as Ruthie spoke. "It doesn't matter. I'm going to be buried with Miley. We're spending our lives together and then anything that comes after, too. It's only right that our bodies rest together." She wiped her eyes and then loudly blew her nose, causing Ruthie to chuckle slightly.

"Lord have mercy," the older woman said with a grin. "You already gettin' allergies from bein' here?"

The grin that spread across Lilly's face made her temples hurt briefly, but it was a welcome discomfort. "No, I just get really emotional when I talk about things like, you know, us dying. I don't like thinking about that too much, but we have to plan for it."

Ruthie patted Lilly's knee. "You're a smart one, little missy. I'll give a call to the chairman of the Cemetery Committee tonight and see what the goin' rate for a family plot is. I'm also tellin' him that he's selling us that plot next to Robbie Ray's and Brooke's whether he likes it or not."

Lilly leaned forward and hugged Ruthie tightly. "Thanks, Ruthie," she said, her voice threatening to break. "Thank you so much." Suddenly a new fear stole over her. "Do you think the church'll have a problem with selling us that plot because we're—well, because we're two women who love each other?"

Ruthie looked at Lilly intently for several seconds. Finally she said, "I don't really know. I hope not. But if some pig-headed fool decides to raise a fuss about it, you could just have Robbie Ray sell Jackson's part to you, then have either of them—or Miley for that matter-- buy more. Ain't a thing anybody can do about what a plot owner does with land he already owns."

"Thank you," Lilly said again as she carefully stood. Her head swam for a few seconds, but she held tightly to the arm of the couch until things had stabilized. She smiled at Ruthie, then she walked back to the guest bedroom that she and Miley were sharing.

As Lilly reached the bedroom, she could hear the soft rush of the shower in the guest bathroom. She smiled as she closed the door, making sure it latched securely. _Time to rub my baby's sexy shoulders_, she thought as she slipped her shirt over her head and kicked off her shoes. _And then it'll be time to have some fun._

As Lilly stepped into the bathroom, a wave of comforting steam enveloped her. She sighed reflexively as the warmth washed across her nude body, sending tingles of delight up her spine.

"Lil?" called out Miley from behind the shower door.

"Yeah," Lilly said as she opened the shower door and stepped inside. She grinned as she took in the sight of Miley's beautiful body, glistening under the shower's spray. "You are so hot," she said softly, as much to herself as for Miley.

Miley finished rinsing her hair, then she abruptly looked up when felt Lilly's hands roaming across her chest and stomach. "I don't suppose you're gonna tell me what you and Mamaw talked about?" she asked, shivering once despite the warmth as Lilly's fingertips traced patterns of tingling joy across her skin.

Lilly stepped close enough to Miley for their breasts to just barely brush against each other, letting her hands continue their sensual caress of her lover. She grinned as she said, "Nope. Not yet. But I _will_ tell you that the way your accent gets stronger when you're back here turns me on even more than usual." She leaned her head forward and began to plant tender kisses on the side of Miley's wet neck.

"And your plan is to distract me from asking any more questions with insane, mind-blowing sex, right?" Miley asked, trying to restrain herself despite Lilly's seductive actions. Not that she wasn't going to give in, because that was never in doubt, just that she wanted to make Lilly work for it just a bit longer. Drawing the foreplay out at times tended to make the ensuing lovemaking especially sweet and thrilling, recharging their souls with fresh intensity.

Lilly gave Miley a hungry kiss, bringing both young women to their tiptoes as they deeply, instinctively wanted _more_ of the other. "Something like that," she answered, her eyes still closed. She reached around Miley and grabbed her wife's butt with both hands, pulling their bodies even closer as they kissed again. By the time they broke this second kiss, both of them could feel their hearts beating rapidly. "You think it's gonna work?" Lilly asked, now nuzzling the right side of Miley's neck.

Miley ran her hands down Lilly's ribs and rested them on her wife's strong hips. "Only one way to find out," she replied as she pushed Lilly backward until her back was against the shower wall, then Miley claimed another breathtaking kiss.

After two hours of alternating fiery pleasure and tender whispers and touches, Miley and Lilly were on their way into Knoxville. Lilly had put on her favorite soft yellow shirt, leaving the top two buttons undone, pairing it with beige shorts and sandals. Currently her long hair was hanging loose, but she had a pink knit cap with her in case she felt like wearing it later. Miley was wearing a light sundress patterned with an abstract design that suggested flowers without ever revealing them. It was mainly a soft beige, with its pattern a mix of brown and gold. Its sheer length fell not quite to Miley's knees, revealing enough of her thighs to keep Lilly sufficiently distracted during most of the forty-minute drive.

After about the tenth time Miley caught Lilly checking out her thighs, she finally smiled and said, "Don't wreck us, Lil."

Lilly grinned and immediately reached over, sliding her left hand just barely under the hem of Miley's dress and lovingly caressing the inside of her right thigh. "You feel so amazing, Miley," Lilly said slowly, the electric contact between the two of them making her left hand tingle.

Miley sucked in several breaths through clenched teeth as Lilly's fingers teased all sorts of feelings from her body. "Don't go any higher, Lil," she managed to say, "or we're gonna have to pull over." She could already feel the desire building deep inside her, slowly being stoked back to a full burn by Lilly's gentle touch.

Lilly grinned, but she halted her hand's advance. "About to float away, lover?" she asked teasingly.

Miley gave her a quick glance. "More like about to clamp down on that wanderin' hand and make it settle in for a while."

Lilly patted Miley's leg and then withdrew her hand, smoothing her wife's skirt down as she did so. "I guess we need to save that for tonight, huh?"

Miley tried to keep a straight face, but a smile leaked out despite her best efforts. "Or until we park the car," she said. Lilly didn't say anything, but the sparkle in her eyes was answer enough for Miley. "I'll keep us away from the other cars until we're finished."

Minutes later they turned into the parking lot of West Town Mall. As Miley drove around the perimeter of the vast parking area, Lilly unbuckled her seat belt and leaned across the car to whisper into Miley's ear some of the things she was planning for Miley over the next two weeks.

"Sweet niblets," Miley squeaked out. She immediately decided that their current location was good enough, parking the car close to a few other vehicles, but not too close. As soon as she put the transmission into Park, Lilly was across the bench seat and practically on top of her. Miley grabbed Lilly's shoulders with both hands and firmly held her as they kissed intensely; as she felt Lilly's hand slide between her thighs, Miley spread her legs as well as she could, given the position they were in. Lilly had no difficulty in sliding Miley's panties to the side, and almost instantly she was inside the woman she loved, gently, reverently making love to her best friend once again. As far as Lilly was concerned, it could never be too much.

Within minutes Miley was swept up in her orgasm, shouting Lilly's name loudly inside the car as Lilly carefully removed her hand from between Miley's legs and changed positions to straddle her wife, holding her securely as she felt Miley's body shake beneath her. "You are so beautiful like this, Miley," Lilly whispered as she watched Miley's eyes flutter beneath tightly closed eyelids. "I love you."

After a few more jerks, Miley was coherent enough to blink open her eyes. She instantly focused on Lilly's smiling face, just inches away with that happy, toothy grin that could make even the darkest day seem like dancing in the sun. "Love you, Lil..." she managed to whisper before shaking a few more seconds, her entire body convulsing in an aftershock of Lilly's lovemaking. "Owe you one..."

Lilly silenced Miley with her lips, not pressing the kiss into anything more for now. "You owe me a lot more than that, Miley Truscott," she said, hoping Miley was lucid enough to grasp her meaning.

Miley smiled and once again opened her eyes, and now Lilly could see that there was indeed some clarity in them. "You're right," Miley said, her voice a bit stronger. "I owe you everything. Body, heart and soul."

"Yes!" Lilly said, happy that Miley had completely gotten her meaning. "Just like I owe you everything."

Miley reached up and ran her fingertips across Lilly's left cheek, something she knew Lilly found irresistible. "Good," she said. "Then you can pay for the movie tickets." She kissed Lilly once more, then she opened the door. Together they carefully got out of the car, retrieved their purses and then closed the door before they set off for the mall proper. Miley tried not to shiver as she heard Lilly licking and sucking her fingers as they walked, because she knew exactly what Lilly was savoring. Miley glanced over at Lilly and was immediately caught looking by her wife. "Am I that good?" she asked Lilly in a low voice.

Lilly nodded, her index finger still in her mouth. As she removed it slowly, she said, "And then some, Miles," getting a slight blush from Miley in return. "So where are we meeting them?" Lilly asked as they entered the large mall. She looked at the high ceiling and airy design of the mall, surprised at how it didn't feel as claustrophobia-inducing as most malls she had been inside.

Miley pulled her cell phone out of her small purse. "She just said to call her when we got here," she said as she began dialing. Before they had left, Miley had called Amy's parents and gotten her cell phone number; she had then called her old friend and told her that she and Lilly were on their way, coaxing a happy cheer from Amy. "Hey Amy!" Miley said into the phone as Lilly looked at the mall directory. "Yeah, we just got here." Miley looked around, finally saying, "We're at the entrance by the Ruby Tuesday. You want us to meet you somewhere?" Miley nodded as she listened, then she said, "Got it. Be right there." She snapped her phone shut and looked at Lilly. "She said to go straight ahead, then turn right and keep walking until they see us."

Lilly smiled at her best friend. "I like easy directions like that," she said. She extended her hand to Miley. "Shall we?"

There was no hesitation as Miley took Lilly's hand, threading her fingers between her wife's like she had done a million times before, yet every time it still gave her a little thrill to display their love and commitment for each other so openly. _If people give us a hard time tonight, we can deal with it. As long as I have Lilly with me, nothing can hurt us._

Similar thoughts were circulating through Lilly's head as they began to walk, their bodies just slightly pressed against each other as they took in the various stores inside the quite large mall. _Nobody's given us much heat for being affectionate with each other the other times we've been in Knoxville. Hopefully that'll hold up tonight, too._ She looked around at the crowds of shoppers inside the mall with them tonight, and she noted quite a few boys and young men eying the two of them in more than a friendly way. "You're drawing some real looks tonight, Miles," Lilly said, keeping her voice neutral.

"Must be the dress," Miley said casually. "Or maybe it's the hot blonde I'm holding hands with." After she herself spotted a look cast their way from another group of boys, Miley added, "I'm not looking back, by the way. These pretty blue eyes are just for you, Lil."

"Better be," Lilly added, a smile on her face. _I STILL get goosebumps when she says that she belongs to me, even after nearly three years together as a couple. How cool is that?_

Just then they heard a voice call out, "Miley!" They turned to see Amy, waving from where she stood in the midst of a group of girls their age sitting next to an elaborate fountain.

"Hey!" Miley said as she and Lilly both waved and walked over to the crowd.

"Glad you two made it," Amy said. "Everybody, this is Miley and her friend Lilly. Miley and I grew up together in Misty Hollow before she moved to Nashville. Somehow she wound up in California, and that's where Lilly's from."

"We know who Miley is," said a small young woman with short, curly blonde hair. She stepped forward and said, "Amy's not the only one who grew up in the sticks."

Lilly immediately didn't like her. Something about her tone, her body stance screamed _Amber_ loudly to Lilly's mind. But before she could say anything, Miley cut her off.

"Jane," said Miley. While her voice sounded friendly to most everyone present, Miley knew that Lilly would pick up on the subtle tone of annoyance she was trying to project. "Been a long time, huh?"

"Yeah. So, California, huh?"

Miley grinned and tossed her hair once. "Yup. Lovin' it, too."

"So why'd you come to a hick place like this?" Jane asked Lilly, shifting her stare from Miley to her best friend. "To see what rednecks look like?"

"Knock it off, Jane," Amy said, her tone firm.

However, Lilly was all too happy to answer Jane's question. "Nope, just came to spend some time with Miley and her family. We just had our graduation Monday, so we're officially out of high school now."

Murmured congratulations were passed to Miley and Lilly from the group, which Lilly counted at six girls, not counting her and Miley. As she was looking at the others, Lilly noticed something unusual about one of the girls standing next to Amy: she was wearing a pair of Sketchers from Lola's line of skateboarding shoes. And she had a small silver skateboard charm on her necklace.

"You skate?" Lilly asked the girl, whose long, straight dark hair hid roughly half of her face.

The girl looked up, somewhat surprised that Lilly had addressed her. "Me?" she asked.

"Yeah. Noticed your shoes. And the necklace," Lilly added with a single nod.

A faint smile crossed the girl's face. "Yeah, I try," she said. "You?"

"Whenever I can," Lilly said pleasantly.

Miley grabbed Lilly's arm. "Ah, she's just bein' modest! Lilly here came in fourth in the Supergirl Skate Jam in San Diego a few weeks back!" Miley beamed as she firmly held Lilly, preventing her from shying away from Miley's bragging on her.

"Are you serious?!" said the dark-haired girl in a near shout. "_Fourth?_ That's a pro event! You skate pro?"

Lilly gave Miley a small Look, holding it until Miley finally released her arm. "Nah, I'm still an amateur. I had a really good day that day." She softened the Look she was giving Miley. "Plus I had Miley there cheering me on." She looked back at the slight girl. "What's your name?"

"Dee," said the girl, her face fully lit up at this point. "Short for Deandra. Blame my parents for the name, 'cause I sure as heck do."

Lilly smiled back. "Lilly," she said, shaking Dee's hand.

A sigh came from the another one of the girls. "Great," said another blonde, this one with hair layered in a style that fell to her shoulders. "Another skater chick."

Amy lightly pushed the blonde back. "You're just jealous, Kristy, admit it. I remember that time Dee tried to teach us how to skate."

"Oh my God," said Kristy, her expression serious. "I still have scars on my elbows from that. Never again." She stepped forward and smiled as she held out her hand to Lilly. "I'm Kristy," she said.

"Lilly. Nice to meet you. You grow up with Miley and Amy too?"

"Yep. Still live in Misty Hollow." A twinkle flashed through her eyes, which didn't go unnoticed by either Miley or Lilly. "So... What part of California do you two live in?"

"Malibu," answered Miley cautiously. She knew that Jane had always been bitchy and had expected no less, but she wasn't quite sure how to take Kristy. Their relationship growing up had been up and down, but even on their best days Miley and Kristy hadn't been very close.

"Ooooh," Kristy said, suddenly interested. "So you live with the movie stars and celebrities, huh?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess," replied Lilly.

"You ever meet any of 'em?" When Lilly didn't immediately reply, Kristy pressed the point. "Oh, come on! You've _got_ to run into at least _somebody_ famous if you live out there."

Lilly glanced at Miley and gave her a quick wink. She then turned back to the girls and said, "Well, I do have Hannah Montana's phone number. Miley and I are friends with her and Lola."

"Bullshit!" said Jane, loudly. "No freaking _way_ you have Hannah Montana's phone number!"

Miley started to sweat, but then she remembered that she and Lilly had turned their "business" phones off before they left Malibu. Any calls would go straight to their voice mail, and the phones wouldn't ring. Now she saw where Lilly was going with this and relaxed.

Lilly just grinned and pulled out her cell phone. She flipped it open and clicked down through her numbers until she got to the entry for Miley's Hannah phone. She hit dial and then switched it over to speaker phone. As it audibly began to ring, all the girls crowded in tightly.

"_Hey ya'll! This is Hannah!"_ said the voice mail as it picked up. _"Lola and I must be busy, so just leave us a message and we'll call you back. Remember, love makes the world go 'round. Bye!"_

Lilly spoke into the phone, "Hey Hannah, this is Lilly. We got to Tennessee just fine. Just give Miles and me a call when you get this message. Tell Lola we said hi, too. Bye!" She snapped the phone shut and looked up to count the jaws hanging open. "They must have been out doing something," Lilly said nonchalantly.

"You really do know 'em?" said Amy, getting two nods in reply. "How did you meet 'em?"

"Hannah did a concert at our school last year," Lilly said, saying it as if that should explain all the rest. "Hey, where's a good place to buy some Titans stuff in here?" Most of the girls now grinned, and Lilly surmised she had passed some sort of test.

"There's a store down this way," said Kristy. "You a Titans fan now?" she asked skeptically.

Lilly nodded as the gaggle of girls all began walking. "Miley's dad converted me," she added. She noted that the other two girls hadn't spoken a single word so far, apparently content to let Kristy do the talking for them.

"I could care less about football," sighed Miley.

"Or any other sport," cheerily added Lilly, drawing giggles from the girls.

"Some things never change, huh?" said Jane. "Stewart always did suck at sports."

"I like skateboarding," Miley said quickly. "At least, I like watching Lilly skate. Does that count?"

As they came to what looked like an arboretum inside the mall at a convergence of passages, Lilly stopped and looked around. "Wow," she said, "you could almost think we were outside." She moved to sit in one of the covered benches arranged in a circular pattern, then Miley quickly joined her.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Miley asked her girlfriend, getting a nod in return.

"Yeah, sure is."

"C'mon!" Amy said, extending her hands to help Miley and Lilly up. "Time's a' wastin'." As she pulled them to their feet, she exclaimed, "Sweet Jesus!" as she looked at Lilly's left hand.

"What?" shouted several other girls, Miley and Lilly included before they realized that Amy was looking at Lilly's engagement ring.

"Oh yeah," Lilly said, "isn't it amazing?" She held her hand up for everyone else to admire her ring.

"I'd say," Amy said as she looked closely at it. "That's one heck of a ring, Lilly."

"Thanks," Lilly said pleasantly.

"You skate with it?" asked Dee as she peered closely at the quite impressive ring.

"Yup," answered Lilly proudly. "I never take it off. It's too special to me. Same for my wedding band."

Amy looked at Lilly with new surprise in her face. "You're _married?_ I thought you were our age, Lilly."

"I am. But when you find the perfect person, the One you're supposed to spend the rest of your life with, you have to grab on and hold tight." Lilly was about to say more when Kristy interrupted.

"You're engaged too, Miley?" Kristy asked as she looked at Miley's hand. She lifted Miley's hand to examine the ring more closely, then she added, "_Married?_ You too?"

"Yup," said Miley, just as proud as Lilly. "Like Lilly said, when you find your One, you hang on tight and never let go." As Kristy continued to look at her rings, Miley added, "The engagement ring is super special. It's been in Lilly's family since the Civil War, passed down from mother to daughter. It hadn't been used as an engagement ring for over a hundred years 'til she gave it to me."

There was a pause for a minute, then Kristy looked up. "She gave the ring to you?" she asked, her face neutral. "_Lilly_... your friend here, gave _you_ this ring? As an engagement ring?"

"Yeah," Miley said, taking Lilly's hand in hers. "We got married two years ago this coming November."

Lilly looked around, trying to assess the reactions in the eyes of the other girls. _Amy looks cool with things, no surprise. She seems like a real friend. Dee looks... impressed, I'd guess. At the very least, she doesn't look pissed. Kristy looks like she's swallowed a fly. Jane looks like, well, a bitch. No surprise there either. Hope I don't have to punch her, because that might embarrass Miley. Silent Girl One and Silent Girl Two look like they're about to throw up. Sucks for them._ "Miley and I were best friends from her first day at our school," Lilly said. "And our feelings for each other just kinda grew from that really amazing friendship."

"And you're happy?" Amy asked as she stepped closer to Miley, searching her face closely as Miley and Lilly stood.

Miley smiled, and it was a much, much bigger smile than she had planned on, but it was an honest one. "I'm happier than I could ever imagine, just because I have her in my life," she said truthfully.

"Aw," Lilly said, looking beside her at her wife. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, hon," Miley said, hugging Lilly with one arm.

Amy smiled. "Then I'm happy for you, Miley. And for you too, Lilly." She hugged first Miley, then Lilly before she stepped back and looked at the two of them. "Not exactly what I was expecting to hear tonight, but okay!"

Dee smiled and tentatively extended a fist to Lilly. "You skate and you're cool. You're solid in my book." As Lilly bumped fists with her, Dee turned to Miley and said, "I know we hadn't met before tonight, but you seem pretty cool too, Miley."

As Miley hesitantly bumped fists with Dee, much to Lilly's amusement, another voice—this one male—loudly said, "_Miley?!_" Everyone turned around to see a group of four teenage boys, and among them was none other than Todd Gentry. The sight of him stirred up feelings that Miley and Lilly really didn't want to deal with, because he and Luanne had almost killed Miley three years ago.

"Uh oh," Miley said softly, so quietly that Lilly was the only one who could hear it. In response she felt a firm squeeze on her hand, not letting go. _Thanks, Lilly._

Amy waved. "Hey Todd! Miley just got back into town for a week or two, and she brought a friend of hers from Malibu! This is—"

"Lilly," Todd said, his voice cold.

Lilly matched his stony stare. "Todd," she responded in just as flat a voice.

"Oh, you two have—"

"Yeah, they've met already," Miley said, cutting off Amy again. "A few years back." The harsh tone in her voice clearly indicated that she had no intention of elaborating further.

Todd looked down for a second or two, then he looked back up. "I never..." He sighed, then he tried again. "I never got to say—"

"Todd, baby..." said Kristy, sidling forward and cozying up next to Todd. "Did you know that Miley was a _lesbian_? And that she and Lilly have a... _thing_?"

"It's not a 'thing', Kristy, we're married!" Miley said, starting to feel the blood rush to her face. "And yes, he knows." Miley could feel her head start to pound, and she realized that this wasn't going to be the happy night she had wanted to give Lilly. "You know, I think Lilly and I are just gonna go do some shopping. Obviously not all of you are okay with us, and we don't want to ruin anybody's night. Least of all ours." She turned to Lilly, and the sadness on her face made Lilly's heart ache. "C'mon Lilly, let's go try and have some fun."

Lilly could feel how painful this was for Miley, and it caught her slightly off guard. She turned to Amy and Dee and said, "Thank you both, and enjoy the movie," before turning to follow her best friend.

"Miles," Lilly said, hurrying to catch up with Miley. "Miles!" Miley didn't respond. She just kept her head down, but Lilly could see her wiping tears from her eyes with her left hand. Lilly sped up, catching Miley after just a few quick strides. "Hey," Lilly said as she took Miley's arm. "Talk to me, Miles." She tugged Miley to a stop beside a bench, then she guided Miley to a seated position.

Miley looked up into Lilly's bright blue eyes, and she let what little control she had go. She began sobbing as she leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Lilly as she buried her head into her best friend's shoulder.

"It's okay, honey," Lilly said, patting and rubbing Miley's back as she held the woman she loved tightly. "It's okay. I'm right here." She could feel Miley nod against her shoulder, and Lilly smiled sadly. "I wish I could take all your tears away, Miley, and you never have to cry them again. But the best I can do is to hold you and love you, and to let you know that I'm always going to be here with you." Lilly closed her own eyes and rested her head on Miley's shoulder, offering silent but profound comfort as Miley cried her tears out.

After a minute or two, Miley's tears began to slow. She softly kissed Lilly's collarbone, then she lifted her head up as Lilly did the same. As Miley looked into Lilly's eyes, she could see the glistening sign of tears in Lilly's eyes.

"When you cry, I cry, remember?" Lilly said, managing a slight smile.

Miley nodded. "Thanks for being here for me. Love you."

"Of course," Lilly said as she leaned her head forward, resting her forehead against Miley's. "Goes with being your best friend. And I love you too."

The sensation of someone sitting down beside them made both girls jump, but they didn't release their hold on each other, even as Lilly spun her body halfway around to see who had sat down beside them.

"Hey," said Amy. Dee was standing beside her, shifting from foot to foot.

"Hey," said Miley in return. "We didn't want to ruin your night. We just thought it might be fun to hang out with ya'll tonight. Sorry for all the drama."

"Drama? What drama?" said Dee, and for the first time tonight the small girl really smiled.

Miley and Lilly both smiled in return. "Thanks," said Miley. She gently pushed Lilly to get her to move to a position where they could keep an arm around each other but both look at Amy and Dee comfortably.

Lilly was hopeful but cautious now. "So you two aren't going to give Miley a hard time?" she asked warily.

Amy's smile thinned but didn't entirely disappear as she looked at Lilly and asked, "Did Miley ever tell you about the time she got the cat out of the tree when we were growin' up?"

Lilly blinked for a second or two, then she answered, "Um, no, I don't think so." She glanced at Miley, who was blushing a bit, but when Amy started speaking again, Lilly turned to listen to her.

"When we were eight or nine—"

"Nine," Miley said, interjecting.

"Nine," Amy corrected, "there was this cat that had climbed up a tree and couldn't get back down. It was scared and makin' a racket like you've never heard."

"It was a kitten," Miley said. "It had gotten out of its house and gotten up in that tree, and no one could get it to jump down."

Amy looked at Miley. "No interruptions," she said, her words not even close to serious. She looked back at Lilly. "Anyway, Miley looks at us and says, 'I'll get that cat down out a' that tree.' She kicks off her flip-flops and walks over to the tree and goes up that thing like a scared squirrel. I bet there wasn't a tree in the Hollow that she couldn't climb if she had wanted to.

"So Miley gets up on the branch where the kitten was and starts talkin' to it, tryin' to get it to come to her. But the poor thing was so scared it wouldn't move. Miley sits down on the branch and scoots right out until she's close enough to get the kitten, then she scoots back to the trunk. Now she's about twenty-five feet high at that point, and she knows it's too far to drop the cat safely. But she's just wearin' a t-shirt and shorts, and there's no pocket in the shorts. So she tucks her shirt down into her shorts, and she drops the kitten down her shirt, so she can use both hands climbin' down the tree.

"By the time she gets back on the ground, Miley's cryin' as loud as the kitten is. She reaches down into her shirt and pulls the kitten out and hands it back to its owner, then she gets on her bike and takes off for home. I take off after her, yelling, 'What's wrong? What's wrong?' But she won't even turn around, just goes for home like her tail's on fire."

Lilly turned to look at Miley. "Why were you crying?" she asked, but Miley pointed back at Amy, who wasn't done yet.

Amy leaned forward and said, "Miley could outclimb me, but she sure couldn't outrun me on a bike. I caught her before she got to her house, and when we got off our bikes I could see blood on her shirt."

"Oh Miley..." Lilly said, putting her hands in front of her face.

Amy shook her head as she continued her story. "She had put that kitten down in her shirt knowin' that it was gonna claw her up somethin' fierce while she climbed down that tree, but she did it anyway to save her friend's pet. I saw some of the scratches on her belly and sides while her mom was cleanin' 'em up, and I know it had to hurt like the devil." Amy paused, looking Lilly in the eyes. "Somebody that'd risk her own neck and take that kind of hurt, just to help out somebody else? That's a real kind a' friend, as far as I'm concerned. And I'm proud to call that girl _my_ friend, no matter who she falls in love with."

"That's my Miley," Lilly said proudly, putting her arm around Miley and hugging her. "She's got the biggest heart of anybody I know."

"I couldn't leave that little guy up in the tree," Miley said quietly.

"C'mon," Lilly said as she got to her feet. "Let's do some shopping, then we can get something good to eat. Sound like a plan?"

Miley hopped up as well, and now her smile was back in full force. "Sounds like a great plan!"

"I'm in," said Amy, while Dee simply nodded, a tiny smile on her face. "Let's go check out the shirts at this one store!" She looked at Dee and added, "Dee, we have _got_ to spruce you up a bit." She looked at Miley and Lilly and said, "This one boy at school has totally got the hots for Dee."

"He does not!" Dee protested. "He doesn't even like me that way." She looked down at her feet, which were currently shuffling back and forth nervously.

"That's why we need to give you a makeover!" Amy said, grabbing Dee's hand.

"Whoa!" said Miley as she held her arm out in front of Amy, stopping the dark-haired girl before she could take off. "I got a piece of advice for you two. You can trust me on this one, too. If he likes who you are, Dee, then don't change too much, or you might run him off."

Amy frowned at Miley. "Rain on parades much?" she asked sarcastically, drawing giggles from Lilly and Dee both.

Miley shook her head resolutely. "Nope, just speakin' from experience."

The four girls spent the next two hours wandering through the mall, perusing several stores and eventually purchasing a few items each. Dee had been rather embarrassed to stop at the Victoria's Secret store, but Lilly insisted on showing her several different sets of panties and bras that were extremely comfortable when skateboarding. Dee weakly protested, but Lilly had been firm and even went so far as to buy two sets for Dee to try. Dee's protests had lessened when Lilly put back the plum and lavender sets in favor of a set each of black and red.

As they walked out of Victoria's Secret, Dee said, "Thanks, Lilly," with a smile on her face. "Can't say I ever had anyone except my mom buy me underwear before."

"Well, don't go telling everybody," Lilly said teasingly. "Trust me, after an hour or two of skateboarding, your boobs and butt will thank me. Plus you'll look great in them!"

"I'll take your word for it, I guess," Dee said, looking down at the marble floor again as they walked.

"So where to?" asked Amy. Before anyone could answer, Lilly's stomach grumbled.

Miley laughed, saying, "I think we probably ought to grab somethin' to eat." She put one arm around Lilly and pulled her close. "When Lilly gets hungry, it's time to feed the beast," she added, patting Lilly's flat stomach.

Lilly smiled and narrowed her eyes as she looked at Miley. "Because I love you, I won't make any sexual comments about what you just said," she said pleasantly. "But it would be _soooo_ easy to."

Dinner was wonderful, with the four girls stepping out to a seafood restaurant called Chesapeake's in an older part of Knoxville. Miley was stuffed by the time they were finished, but she gamely tried a bite of Lilly's Heath bar cheesecake at her girlfriend's insistence. By nine o'clock the girls had made their way out of the restaurant and into the parking lot. The summer night was noticeably cooler to Lilly, and she could taste something different in the air instead of the salty sensation of the ocean she was used to. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, an act noticed by her partner, who knew every little nuance of Lilly.

"You okay, Lilly?" Miley asked, slipping her arm around her wife.

Lilly nodded, still holding her breath. Finally she exhaled, blowing out completely before opening her eyes. "Just enjoying how different the air smells here," she said, looking into Miley's eyes, now a bright cobalt under the moon and the night lights.

Miley said nothing as she herself looked up at the sky, instead just holding Lilly tightly and saying a thankful prayer for finding such a perfect companion for her life.

"What's wrong?" Lilly asked as she felt a small pang in her chest. She saw a tear slip free of Miley's left eye, so she reached up and deftly caught it with her index finger before it could reach Miley's chin.

"Nothing's wrong," Miley said quietly. "It's just that everything's so darn _right_, that's all." She looked at Lilly and saw her wife's simple smile of happiness. "I love you so much, you know that?"

Lilly kept her smile as she gently brushed the solitary tear trapped on her index finger across her own lips, kissing it away before using the same finger to place that kiss on Miley's lips. "I know," Lilly said. "And I know exactly how much you love me, because that's how much I love you." The two young women wrapped their arms each other and hugged tightly. "Thank you for making me a part of your family and your world here, because I love it."

Miley kept her eyes closed tightly to prevent any more tears from trickling out. "You're welcome, Lilly Bear. Thank you for being part of it."

"Geez, you two are way too cute!" said Amy loudly. "I mean, seriously, you're not gonna, like, make out or anything here, are you?"

Miley grinned and Lilly just buried her head in Miley's shoulder as the two of them turned so that Miley was facing Amy and Dee. "No," Miley said, shaking her head, "we're not gonna start makin' out right here in the parking lot." Lilly mumbled something into Miley's shoulder, making the brunette laugh loudly.

"What'd she say?" asked Amy.

Miley said, "She said that she could wait until we got back to the house before tearin' me up."

As Amy turned bright red, Dee laughed along with Miley. She playfully pushed Amy and said, "Oh, you got _owned_, Amy! She totally got you with that one!"

Amy nodded, smiling despite her blushing. "Yeah, I can admit it. I walked right into that one."

Lilly lifted her head up and gave Miley a quick kiss on the lips before releasing her grip on Miley for a more restrained holding of her lover's hand. "So, there any good skate parks around here?" she asked Dee. "Because I brought my board and gear this time."

Dee's smile grew even more. "Yeah, there's a cool one closer to the Hollow than Knoxville. You want to hit it tomorrow?"

"Yep," said Lilly. "I could use some more practice."

"You goin', Miley?" Amy asked.

Miley nodded. "Yep. I love to watch Lilly skate. She's so cute and amazing all at the same time."

"Cool," said Dee. "Ten sound good to you two? Won't be too hot by then."

"Sounds good to me," said Lilly. "But remember, I live in California, by the ocean. Heat and humidity I can handle."

Dee grinned. "We'll see tomorrow, girl." She stepped forward and slapped her hand against Lilly's, gripping the blonde's hand tightly for a moment. "Good to meet you, and be careful headin' home tonight."

"You too Dee," Lilly replied, then she waved at Amy. "And Amy, it's always nice to meet one of Miley's friends."

Amy stepped forward and hugged Lilly as she said, "Let me guess," then she hugged Miley. "Any friend of Miley's is a friend of yours?" she finished as she stepped back.

Lilly smiled, then she said, "Well, as long as they're nice friends. Ones like that Kristy girl I could do without."

Miley said, "Kristy and I were never really good friends. And then the whole deal with what Luanne pulled pretty much blew any friendliness we had out of the water."

Lilly raised an eyebrow at her wife, doing a very good imitation of Miley's own gesture. In response to her questioning look, Miley gave her a flat smile that clearly indicated to Lilly, _I'll tell you later._ Lilly knew that Miley would indeed tell her, so she deftly let it go. "Okay, time for us to start driving back," she said. "See you two tomorrow, I guess."

"Yeah, night you two!" Miley added. As Amy and Dee both waved and turned to walk back to Amy's car, Miley and Lilly headed to their rental car. Before Lilly could so much as ask Miley about Kristy, she felt Miley's hand slip into the rear of her shorts and gently grip her butt. "You feel so good, Lilly Bear," Miley whispered into Lilly's right ear as they walked to their car.

Lilly swallowed as she felt her heart start to beat faster. Miley's grip on her rear had kicked her body into overdrive, and all she could manage at first was to lean into her wife even more. By the time they had reached their car, she had recovered enough to turn and pull Miley against her tightly, chest to chest. As Lilly kissed Miley, she felt her hands slip up Miley's shirt and gently, very gently, caress the sides of Miley's breasts through her bra before Lilly quickly removed them. She smiled as she looked into Miley's eyes and saw the same passion in them that had been ignited in hers. "Now take me home and make love to me, Miles," Lilly said, sparks of joy dancing in her eyes as they kissed once again. "Because that'll be a perfect end to a really awesome day."

**Afterword:** We're getting closer to Robbie Ray's surprise for the girls, and I hope you like their new friends in Tennessee. Lilly's just as curious as you are about the history between Luanne and Kristy, and more of that will appear in the next chapter. We know that Miley and Lilly are happy to be back, but how exactly is Luanne feeling? I'm thinking there might be two more chapters left in this story, but as always that's subject to change. We might see some of Jackson and Kaela before this one is over as well. See you as soon as I can get the next chapter written!

Jo


	23. Chapter 23: From Small Things, Momma

**Author's Note:** Thanks for everyone's sweet reviews. I'm really not trying to torture you with Robbie Ray's surprise, and I'll do my best to get it into this chapter to relieve the suspense for many of you. You can thank **mileyhannahfan69** from YouTube for this chapter's intro music, because when I saw the Liley video "She's Everything" set to that song, I knew it was the intro I had been looking for. In fact, the whole song would have fit perfectly. Please check out the beautiful vid, because it's so poignant that it'll bring tears to your eyes.

I want to thank **Thekillingname** for pointing out that California now requires cremation after death, which I didn't know. Since I didn't know it, then I bet Miley and Lilly didn't know either. Even more reason for Lilly's planning ahead! And **live2rite**, this chapter Todd finally gets the chance to say what he was going to before he was interrupted. **Seraphinn**, no worries about keeping up with reviews; I'm just glad to have you back. Luanne's secret? I honestly have no idea if that particular secret is going to slip out or not. **Stupid-Lollies**, that's an interesting insight into Amy and Dee. The future for them is still fluid... And I haven't forgotten about Cassie (or Sarah, for that matter). **Initiate Six**, welcome to the Liley world! Your review was very nice, and I thank you tremendously for it. I think you'll be pleased with the next story in the septology in particular. **Sophi20**, Jamie and Gina are back in Malibu, working up the courage to tell their parents. We might be hearing from them in this chapter or the next, but you'll definitely see them again in the next story. **Lita Rocks LbC**, you're close. And you may certainly have a cookie! Hope chocolate chunk works for you.

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_ If you'd like a refresher on Miley's family in Tennessee, please take a look at the Tennessee Cast of Characters at the beginning of Chapter 21.

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 23: From Small Things, Momma...

_She's the giver I wish I could be_

_And the stealer of the covers_

_She's the picture in my wallet_

_My unborn children's mother_

_She's the hand that I'm holding_

_When I'm on my knees and praying_

_She's the answer to my prayers_

_She's the song that I'm playing_

_And she's everything I ever wanted_

_And everything I need_

_When I talk about her I go on and on and on_

_Because she's everything to me_

-Brad Paisley; "She's Everything"

_As the sound of laughter and whispering came from around her, Miley took a moment to get her bearings. She was inside a building of some kind, one that looked vaguely familiar... The church. The church in Misty Hollow. In the front of the church, a group of children were performing a manger scene, and the building was decorated for Christmas. _

_She turned her attention back to the dozen or so children in front of the packed pews, most standing there in that self-conscious way kids tend to do during a play, but a few of them were speaking lines of dialogue. Then all of them began to sing, and after just a few lines Miley could feel herself shiver as she distinctly picked out a voice very much like her own. Miley looked around until she saw two girls that caught her eye. The first one appeared to be seven or eight, and her long blonde hair, Miley's round face and bright blue eyes left no doubt in Miley's mind who her mothers were. Beside her was a girl who looked a few years younger, with long, thick chestnut brown hair, Lilly's face right down to her smile and those same enchanting blue eyes. As Miley looked at them, the younger girl smiled and waved tentatively. Without even thinking about it, Miley waved back, making the young girl smile even more broadly._

"_She's got your voice," whispered a soft voice in her ear, and the warm breath of the woman she loved sent a tingle down Miley's neck and spine. Lilly squeezed Miley's hand softly, prompting Miley to squeeze back. She turned to look at Lilly, and she saw the Lilly of a few years in the future: hair still blonde but a touch shorter, face full and strong, smile as dazzling as ever, and those eyes of deep blue, unchanged from the ones Miley had dreamed of for years looking down upon her with a gaze warm and loving._

_As Miley looked into Lilly's face, she could almost see a shift in Lilly's eyes, and she knew that meant her Lilly had joined her in what was now their dream. "Look," Miley whispered to her, "look up there. And listen to them sing."_

_Lilly turned to look at the children singing, and after just a few seconds Miley could see the smile across her face. Lilly turned back to Miley and said, "She has your singing voice," as tears formed in the corners of her eyes._

"_Yeah, but she looks like you. Both of them do," Miley whispered back._

_Lilly looked more closely, then she leaned back over and whispered, "They look like both of us, Miles. They really do." Now the older girl waved to her mothers, and this time it was Lilly who waved back without even thinking about it. _

_As the children finished their song, the two girls that Miley and Lilly were watching hurried back to their mothers, the younger one at a run and the older one at a brisk walk. "Mommy, Momma!" said the dark-haired younger girl, flopping into Miley's lap and crawling up to sit there comfortably._

"_You girls did great," said Lilly as the older girl also reached them. They knew this one was Brooke and the younger one was Meredith, not just from previous dreams but also because they just _knew_. _

"_Thanks Mommy," Brooke said with a smile, then she gave first Miley and then Lilly a hug. "Did you like our singing, Momma?" she asked Miley._

"_I loved it, baby," Miley said, immensely proud of her daughters. But before she could say anything further, a third child stopped beside Miley. This one was a little boy, maybe six or seven, with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes that almost made Miley and Lilly think he could also have been theirs. But then he squeezed past their knees, drawing glares from the little girls as he pushed past them. Before Miley could say anything to him, he was already past both her and Lilly, climbing into the arms of his mother._

_As Miley and Lilly saw Luanne pick up the little boy, they saw a grin of pure happiness on her face as she hugged him tightly. As she shifted him in her lap, they caught a glimpse of Ron sitting next to her, smiling proudly. As the crowd inside the church applauded loudly, Miley and Lilly beamed at seeing Luanne's face so free of worry and regret._

Miley rolled over in the bed, smiling in her sleep as she usually did when Lilly was with her. She was just beginning to wake, and the soft tendrils of sleep hadn't quite relinquished their hold on her. She could feel Lilly's breath on her back, and that made her feel warm all over her body. It was almost like she could sense Lilly's gentle touch across all of her at once, softly caressing her body. It was most definitely a sensation both arousing and comforting.

And then she quite clearly felt a warm, moist finger slide into her from behind, filling her perfectly in the way only that little minx Lillian Jessica Truscott could.

"Ohhh," Miley said, softly moaning as she felt Lilly begin to touch her just the way she liked to be touched when she was waking up, slow but firm, deeply stroking her from inside and hitting exactly the right spot...

"Oh yeah, Lilly," she whispered into the pillow as Lilly began to use a bit more pressure, and now Miley's hips began to sway with Lilly's movements. Miley could feel Lilly's warm breath, now on her ear, even before her best friend spoke.

"You are _so_ sexy in the morning, Miley," Lilly whispered into her wife's ear, punctuating her statement with a sensual lick across the tip of Miley's ear.

Miley arched backwards, bending her body until she could look up and see Lilly's face hovering over her. As the throbbing inside her body built in intensity, the room fell out of focus until the only thing that Miley could see clearly was Lilly and the look on her face. Mixed in that blue-eyed gaze were passion, devotion, respect, awe, pride, tenderness, happiness, peace. Understanding. Acceptance.

Love.

Even though her eyes closed as the intensity of her orgasm washed across her consciousness, Miley could still see Lilly's face, imprinted on her mind's eye. She blindly reached up with her right arm, finding Lilly's head right away. She felt her fingers slide through Lilly's hair as her body shook again, powerfully, then she gripped the back of Lilly's head. Miley held on firmly, pulling her lover's head down closer to her own.

Lilly went along with Miley's tugging, but she was dumbstruck by the ecstasy—because no other word could adequately capture what she was seeing on her wife's face—reflected back at her. As she hovered just an inch or two above Miley's face, she could feel Miley's ragged breaths in and out on her cheek. She closed the tiny distance between their lips until her lips were just brushing the warm softness of Miley's. "I could be happy just seeing you this way," Lilly whispered against Miley's lips, kissing them tenderly as she finished. As Miley's eyes slowly, laboriously opened, Lilly could see the dilated pupils inside the glimmering blue irises that matched her own.

"This..." Miley whispered, and it was a full effort to even get that single word out. She licked her lips and tried her damnedest to get her eyes to focus again, but— There. Now Lilly was in focus again. That was what was important. She smiled, and she could see Lilly smile back. As the feeling came back below her neck, Miley could feel that Lilly was still inside her, and it felt so good that it gave her goosebumps. "This is what I sing about..." she mumbled, "...when I say I have... everything I've ever wanted. I have you." She closed her eyes again as she felt Lilly slide her finger out of her, and suddenly there was an emptiness inside her belly. "Dang it..." she whispered, but now the whispering was deliberate. "I love it when you're in me..." she said, exhaling completely.

Lilly pulled Miley against her, rolling her over and resting Miley's head on her chest. "I love touching you, sweetheart," Lilly said softly. She slowly brought her hand to her face, but before she could put her finger in her mouth to taste Miley, a hand grabbed her wrist.

"Now I'm awake," Miley said with a playful grin right before she wrapped her lips around Lilly's finger, stealing her tasty treat. As she locked eyes with Lilly, she could feel as much as hear Lilly growl softly at the exhibition. "And now it's your turn," Miley said with a predatory grin as she straddled her wife.

After the girls made love, they snuggled back together under the covers and fell asleep again. The sound of Miley's cell phone playing Hannah Montana's "Bigger Than Us" shook the girls from their peaceful sleep, with Lilly reaching for the phone. She hit the Receive button and mumbled, "H'llo?"

"_Miley?"_ asked a female voice, hesitantly. _"This is Amy."_

"Hey, Amy," Lilly said. "It's Lilly. Miles is right here." She poked Miley in the belly with a finger, getting only a muffled groan in response. "Sorry, she's still snoozing." Another poke, this time harder, resulted in Miley groaning more loudly and lifting her head off Lilly's chest. However, her cascading hair still completely covered her face, so any facial expression she might have presented to Lilly was obscured. Lilly couldn't help but laugh at her wife's appearance, because she knew that underneath that hair would be two very sleepy eyes.

"It's not funny," said Miley's voice.

"You're right, it's Amy," Lilly replied with a cheery voice. "So wake up."

"_It's about ten, and I was gonna stop by and offer you two a ride into town."_

"Okay," said Lilly, who was now pushing Miley to the edge of the bed. "Get your cute butt out of this bed, Miley Truscott," she said firmly. "We need to get ready, because Amy's offered to drive us into town to the skate park."

"Alright, alright," Miley said, tossing her head back to get her thick hair out of her face. "Gonna brush my teeth and get the shower started." She stood and shuffled toward the bathroom.

"Give us a few minutes to hop in the shower, then we'll be ready, okay?" Lilly said into the phone.

"_That works. See you in a few!"_

Lilly clicked the phone shut. She opened the door to their bedroom a crack and sniffed tentatively. As the aroma of bacon filled her nostrils, she smiled happily and closed the door as quietly as possible. _A good night's sleep, making love to Miley, a hot shower, yummy bacon and eggs, and skateboarding. Not much more I could ask for to make this the perfect morning._

When they finished with their shower and were dressed, Miley and Lilly made their way out of their bedroom. Lilly had her skateboarding gear in a bright pink gym bag, and she and Miley were both wearing simple t-shirts and shorts. Both of them had pulled their hair back, Lilly's blonde hair into a neat ponytail and Miley's chestnut hair into two long pigtails than hung down in front of her chest just beside her breasts.

Ruthie was nowhere to be found, but she had left breakfast on the counter by the stove, covered to keep things fairly warm. As hungry as Lilly was, she really didn't care if things were warm or not, but Miley quickly popped her plate in the microwave for a few seconds to warm her bacon, eggs and toast. As soon as her plate was finished, she walked over to the table and yanked Lilly's plate away from her, sliding the warm plate in front of her wife in its place. "Tastes better that way," she said with a smile before she leaned over and kissed the top of Lilly's head.

"Thanks," Lilly said as she hugged Miley's hips. "You always think of the little things, Miles."

"Little things add up," Miley said, walking back over to the microwave to zap the second plate for a few seconds. "And besides, I know someone else who thinks of the little things, too." She gave Lilly a warm look across the kitchen. "Like some really good ways to wake me up in the morning."

Lilly blushed happily at Miley's innuendo. "I thought you could use some special attention," she said, her voice uncharacteristically shy.

As the microwave's cheery _ding_ sounded, Miley took the plate out and closed the microwave door. "You thought right," she said as she sat down in the seat next to Lilly, scooting it as close to her best friend as it could go.

A knock at the screen door got both girls' attention. "It's open!" called out Miley, and the door swung open immediately to reveal Amy.

"Hey, you two," Amy said, waving at them.

"Hey," said Miley as Lilly waved, her mouth full of some combination of breakfast at the moment. "Lilly'll say hi when her mouth is empty." After a few more seconds of Lilly chewing, Miley added, "In just a second." More chewing. Miley gave Lilly a glance. "Just how big _was_ that bite, Lil?" she asked quizzically.

Lilly just shrugged, then she finally swallowed. "It went in my mouth, didn't it?" she said firmly.

A grin spread across Miley's face. "I am _so_ not going there," she said, holding a raised hand out in front of her, palm open and facing Lilly.

Lilly leaned over and kissed Miley's cheek. "You went there last night," she whispered in Miley's ear, sending a little chill across Miley's body. "And again this morning."

Once her shiver had passed, Miley nodded once and said, "That's true. And I'd do it again."

"You better."

"Are you two talkin' about _sex_?" said Amy loudly. "Over breakfast?"

Miley shushed Amy, waving at her to keep her voice down, much to Lilly's amusement.

"Miles, your Mamaw isn't here, remember?" said Lilly in that matter-of-fact way she had of pointing out those moments when Miley's attempts at logic would fail spectacularly. She looked back down at her plate as she added, "And besides, she's the one who hung the quilts up on the walls last year anyway, to keep the noise down."

Miley swallowed a bite of eggs the wrong way and started coughing. "Sorry!" Lilly said as she jumped up and began thumping Miley on the back. As she was doing so, the screen door swung open. All three girls looked over to see Luanne walking in.

"Hey," Luanne said. She grinned at Miley and Lilly and said, "Looks like I must've missed something good, huh?"

"You could say that," Lilly said. She noticed that Amy had gotten remarkably quiet. "C'mere, Lu," Lilly said, motioning for Luanne to join them at the table. As Luanne reached them, Lilly gave her a hug, which Miley stood and joined.

"Good to see you, Lu," Miley added with a happy smile and one last cough. "Was wonderin' when you'd find your way down here."

"Yeah, well, I had some thinkin' to do last night," Miley's secret sister said cryptically. She looked down at Amy, as if seeing her for the first time. "Amy?" she asked tentatively.

Amy just nodded at first, then she carefully said, "Hey Luanne."

Lilly noted that Amy seemed almost afraid of Luanne, and by the shift in her body stance she could tell that Luanne was all too aware of that as well. "Hey Amy?" she asked.

"Yeah, Lilly?"

"You mind to step out real quick and get the car started? We need to ask Luanne something in private. Please." Lilly smiled to soften the fact that she was essentially telling Amy to leave so they could talk about something secret, but Amy didn't hesitate at all to step outside.

As soon as Amy was out of earshot, Luanne turned to speak, and both Miley and Lilly could see the unspoken hurt and regret in her eyes. "I did some bad things to her when I was growing up," she said to Lilly, and that admission made Luanne seem so different than Miley. Certainly different than what Lilly had seen in the dream she and Miley had shared last night.

"Hey," Lilly said, putting an arm around Miley and holding out her other hand for Luanne to take. When she did carefully take Lilly's hand, Lilly pulled her in close so she and Miley could wrap her in a group hug. "Luanne, you need to take care of some of these demons that you're still carrying around."

Luanne nodded. "I know," she said with a shaky voice. "I'm already planning on doing some of that today. I've put it off long enough."

Miley and Lilly released Luanne, but they continued to look at her steadily. "We want you to be happy, Lu," Miley said. She looked at Lilly, trying to decide how much to say.

_Tell her,_ read the look in Lilly's eyes and face. _She needs something positive to hang onto._

Miley nodded so slightly as to be unnoticeable by anyone but Lilly. "Lu, Lilly and I had a dream last night."

Luanne immediately locked in on her sister's eyes, then her gaze flickered over to Lilly's. "What happened?" she asked, and the fear in her voice was almost painful in its intensity.

"It was a good dream," Miley reassured her, moving her arm to hold Luanne's hand instead of her shoulder. "It was... a really good dream."

Lilly smiled. "You were in it, Luanne. And you were happy. In fact, your whole family was happy."

Luanne ventured a weak smile. "I was getting along with Dad and Noel, huh?"

"No," Lilly said, her smile never flickering. "It was _your_ family that you were with. Your husband... and your son."

Luanne jerked her hands away from her sister and sister-in-law, and they shot to her face, covering her gaping mouth. "I--" she started, then stopped. "I have... a son? In your dream?" Her eyes were wide, but with her mouth covered it was impossible to tell if she was happy, sad, angry, frightened, or all of the above.

"Yeah," said Miley, "and he was playing with our daughters. They were singin' in a Christmas program at the church."

"The church up the road?" Luanne asked, and now her hands fell away to reveal utter surprise on her face. _"Really?"_

Miley nodded. "I recognized it."

"I didn't," Lilly helpfully volunteered. "But Miley told me where it was after we woke up."

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Luanne said, shaking her head. "Hang on. Miley, you said that you had dreams like I did sometimes. And that sometimes Mom had dreams like that too."

"Yeah, that's right," Miley said.

"Then how the hell did Lilly have the dream with you?" she asked.

"We just do," Lilly said, looking at Miley. "We've dreamed together ever since we made love for the first time. Mrs. Stewart said it was because we were so close."

Luanne's eyes filled with tears, with one escaping and running down her right cheek. "You've seen her in your dreams, Lilly?" she asked, a touch of hurt in her voice..

"Yes," Lilly said, and as soon as the words left her lips she realized why Luanne had asked. "Oh Luanne—"

"She talks to _you_ in your dreams, so why won't she talk to _me_?" Luanne yelled. "Why can't _I_ see her? _WHY?!_"

Lilly stepped forward and tried to console Luanne, but the slightly taller girl tried to push her away roughly. Lilly simply brushed aside Luanne's weak attempt to keep her distance and pulled her into a hug anyway. Miley saw Luanne start to lose control, so she stepped forward and grabbed both of her sister's arms before she could start swinging at Lilly. Or anything else. She held Luanne's arms down at her sides while she stepped forward and leaned against Lilly's back, willing support to both of them.

"I'm sorry," Lilly said, fighting back her own tears. "I didn't even think about that, Luanne, I swear I didn't..." Even through both of them crying, Lilly could hear Luanne continuing to whisper, "Why, Momma? Why?" Lilly looked over her shoulder, finding Miley's worried face looking back at her. Miley shrugged, to which Lilly gave her a look that read, _Gee, thanks_. She patted Luanne on the back and tried to comfort her as much as she could, then she risked saying, "She's going to see you, Luanne. I don't know when, but I just know she will. But you have to be _strong_. You have to keep doing what's right, for yourself and for everyone else. Don't let this anger eat you alive again. Or this guilt, either."

That seemed to break through Luanne's shell, and slowly the tears eased. Eventually she looked up with eyes reddened and whispered, "Thank you. Both of you. And Lilly, I'm sorry I blamed you for getting to talk to Momma while I can't."

"You will, Lu," Miley said. "You will. You have the dreams, and before long you're gonna see her."

Luanne smiled, and it was once again the smile that Miley and Lilly had gotten to know, honest but gilded with regrets for the past. "I hope so," she said. "Because I want to just..." Her voice quavered as she finished, "I just want to hold her and tell her I love her. And I want to hear her say that she loves me."

Miley stood and stepped around Lilly. "Here," she said as she moved the throw pillows on the end of the couch. "Lay down, Lu." At the look of uncertainty from her sister, Miley smiled and said, "You need a nap. And maybe the rest will give your brain a chance to work through some of these things."

Lilly stood. She approved tremendously of Miley's idea. At the very least, it would let her sister-in-law calm down and get some rest. And maybe Miley was right. They had seen Miley's mom during naps more than once, so maybe it could happen for Luanne too. "We're going into town to the skate park. Amy offered to drive us." Luanne just nodded and closed her eyes as she lay down on the couch, stretching her legs out. Miley placed a kiss on Luanne's forehead, followed by Lilly doing the same, then the two of them picked up Lilly's bag and quietly walked outside.

As they reached Amy's car, they saw her sitting inside the car with the windows rolled down. "Everything go okay?" she asked, looking behind them as they walked around the car.

"Yeah," said Lilly as she got in the back seat. "Why wouldn't they be?"

Amy turned to look at her. "Oh, because that was _Luanne_?" she asked sarcastically. "You must not have met her."

Lilly grinned. "Oh, I've known her for several years now. But she's not that horrible person she used to be."

"Is she worse?"

"No, she's not," Lilly answered sharply as Miley sat down in the front seat, reaching back to take Lilly's hand as she fastened her seat belt. "She's actually doing much better. And she's tried very hard to let go of all that blackness that's inside her."

The tone in Lilly's voice indicated to Amy that this was a subject best not to broach further. After a few minutes of quiet driving, Amy turned on the radio and light conversation started again. But Luanne was not brought back up.

After roughly thirty minutes, Amy pulled into the parking lot of a small outdoor skate park. It was considerably smaller than the one in Malibu, but as Lilly saw the layout of rails, ramps, vert walls and smooth, smooth concrete, she smiled broadly. "Oh yeah," she said softly, more to herself than to anyone else.

Miley climbed out of the car and opened the door for Lilly. "Go ahead and get started hon, I'll pay for you." Lilly grinned as she pulled on her helmet, the only piece of gear she hadn't already put on during the drive in, and kissed Miley on the lips before running into the skating area, tossing her board down en route and hopping aboard.

"It's free," Amy said. "The city pays to maintain it."

"Really?" Miley asked, surprised.

Amy nodded. "It's not much, but it's better than getting chased out of the mall parking lot." She sat down and began putting on a pair of roller skates, not the inline ones but the older side-by-side style. "You skate?"

Miley laughed. "Uh, no. I'd break something." She slung Lilly's gear bag onto her shoulder and said, "I'm gonna go set up over there in the shade. Send Lilly over here in just a minute, please?"

"Sure," Amy said as she finished tying the laces on her skates.

Miley walked over to the trees, picking a shady spot where she had a good view of the skating area. Lilly was in line to do some tricks on the vert wall when Amy reached her, but she immediately left the line and skated over to where Miley was, hopping off her board and letting it coast into the grass once she arrived. Miley unfolded the blanket she kept in Lilly's bag, and Lilly immediately flopped down onto it. "Sunscreen?" asked Lilly, looking over at Miley. Miley just nodded. Lilly sat up as Miley began to carefully rub the sunscreen onto her exposed skin. _All_ of her exposed skin. As Miley began to work the creamy liquid over her legs, Lilly shivered once. "You're going to get yourself all worked up, you know," she said smugly to Miley.

"I might," Miley admitted with a smile.

Lilly leaned into the gentle touch of her lover, and by the time the sunscreen had been applied both girls could feel their hearts beating quickly. "I won't stay too long, Miles," Lilly said softly.

"It's okay, honey. Enjoy yourself, because I enjoy watching you do your thing. You're amazing when you skate."

Lilly beamed at Miley's compliment, and that sent Miley's heart rate racing even faster. Without discussing it or really even thinking about it, they leaned forward and kissed warmly. Miley went so far as to grab Lilly's helmet and hold her head in place for most of the kiss, which went on for nearly a minute.

As they separated, both Miley and Lilly were aware of eyes on them from all around. As they looked around, they saw Amy and Dee looking at them with grins on their faces. "Go skate," Miley said, gently pushing Lilly away from her.

Lilly scrambled to her feet and retrieved her board. "Love you," she said with a normal voice as she left the cool shade.

"Love you too," Miley answered, and truthfully she didn't care who heard them proclaim their love for each other.

Back in Misty Hollow, Luanne was busy looking at herself, reflected back in the surface of the creek running along the road. She could see many different pieces of herself, of her life, in that shimmering image atop the gently running water, and so few of them were pleasant. She glanced up at the house overlooking that part of the creek. Soon he'd see her. And then it would be up to him to decide. She had hurt him so badly, so maliciously, that she had no right to talk to him first. _That_ she was sure of.

Less than a hundred yards away, Todd Gentry lowered the binoculars. "It looks like she's just sitting there, staring into the creek," he said.

"_Well, I don't trust that fucking bitch!"_ yelled Kristy from the speaker phone. _"She's up to something, and you know it as well as I do."_

Todd wasn't so sure. Yes, Luanne had hurt him and humiliated him, but something had changed in her over the last two years. Everyone who ran into her lately told him that she seemed different, not as angry as she had been growing up. He set the binoculars down on the table. "I'm goin' down there to talk to her," he said.

"_Are you nuts?"_ shrieked Kristy. _"You told me she almost killed her own cousin and had you tricked into helpin' her, and you still want to go 'talk to her' psycho ass?"_

Todd grimaced, and he became acutely aware of how shrill Kristy's voice became when it was removed from the rest of her. "Yeah, that's what I'm tellin' you," he said, then he hit the End button on the phone.

Luanne was busy tracking the flight of a iridescent green dragonfly when she heard the crunching of gravel under shoes. She looked up to see Todd at the edge of the road, across the creek from her. She waited to see if he was going to say anything, but he just continued to look at her warily. _I deserve that._ "I wanted to tell you that what I did to you was horrible. I know that, and I don't expect you to ever forgive me for it." She felt her chin quiver for a moment, and it took significant effort to get it back under control. "I truly am sorry for what I did to you. For taking advantage of you and lying to you." She looked away, unable to meet his gaze. "I'm doing better now." _But I don't expect you to care. Not after how I used you._ "Miley and Lilly have done so much to help me be a better person, to learn to deal with all this rage and hate inside me and not let it control me any more."

"I ran into them last night."

Luanne looked back at Todd, no more than twenty feet away but separated from her by much more than just a creek. "You did?" she asked.

He nodded, and now he fleetingly made eye contact with her. "Yeah," he said. "At West Town. They were there with... some other girls."

Luanne wrapped her arms around her chest and held herself tightly, suddenly cold. "Did they say anything to you?" She knew she was to blame for any hard feelings that her sister and sister-in-law might have toward Todd, and the guilt inside her grew even more.

"Not really."

"I was so wrong to tell you the lies I did, Todd. The two of them love each other so much that it's almost scary. I mean, Miley's my—" She caught herself right before she let the word slip out of her mouth. "Miley's my cousin, and I know that if she had to choose between me and Lilly, it'd be Lilly. If she had to choose between her daddy or brother and Lilly, it'd be Lilly. And Lilly feels the same way about her." She looked back up at Todd, and he didn't shrink away from her gaze this time. "Did you know they were married?"

"Kristy told me last night. She still hates you, by the way."

Luanne laughed. "She should. I was a bitch to her growing up."

"You were a bitch to all of us growing up."

The words stung, but there was no denying the truth in them. "Yeah, I was," she said. "I hated myself and hated my life more than I hated everyone else, though." She sighed loudly. "Hate, hate, hate. That's all I was about for so long."

After a pause, Todd quietly asked, "What happened? I mean, between you wanting to ruin their lives and now you being friends with them."

_Nothing. Everything. I gained a sister, who loves me. I gained a sister-in-law, who loves me too. And the two of them gave me my life back._ She stared at the flowing water while she thought, then she looked back up. "They saved me," she said as tears formed in her eyes. "They loved me more than I hated myself. Even after everything I had tried to do to them, they forgave me and gave me the love and support I needed to put my life back together." She wiped a tear away, but she refused to get angry over showing this much emotion. _Honesty. That's what important._ "I spent almost a year in a psychiatric treatment center in Nashville. They helped me work through the... issues I had with my childhood. With what happened to me growing up. And through all that, Miley and Lilly stayed in touch with me. I'd get cards from them, telling me that they loved me and that I had to be strong. Letters at least once a month, filling me in on what was going on with them and with school. They came out to visit me twice, flying out from California just to see me." Her voice started to waver, but she continued, "And you know, those hugs from them did as much to help me out as any therapy session I ever had."

As Todd watched and listened, he felt all the preconceived notions he held about this young woman sitting in front of him crumble into dust. Oh, he knew that the Luanne Stewart he had grown up with was a mean, spiteful person who delighted in hurting others and getting away with it. But _this_ Luanne Stewart... He slowly realized that he didn't really know her at all.

"Okay, now that I've cried in front of you," Luanne said, smiling despite the tears, "I really just wanted you to know how much I regret hurting you and taking advantage of you like I did. I know I can never go back and fix that, but I wish I could. I think the best thing I can do for you is to stay away from you and not mess up your life any more than I already have." She didn't ask him to forgive her. That would be too much. "I hope life treats you better than I did." She turned around and started walking back to her Mamaw's house, not looking back.

As Miley and Lilly climbed out of Amy's car at the foot of the driveway, Amy said, "You know, I'd've been happy to take you on up to your Mamaw's house."

"Nah, you said you needed to get home," Miley said. "And it's a nice walk."

"Thanks for driving us into town, Amy," Lilly said. "We had a really good time."

"I'm glad to get to spend some time with an old friend and her wife," Amy said. She grinned and said, "That still sounds a little weird, sayin' 'her wife'."

"You'll get used to it," Miley said. "And tell Dee that we said she better ask that boy out. He _so_ totally has the hots for her. I could tell by the way he talked about her while we were watching you three skate."

Lilly smiled as she added, "And she does for him too. It's totally obvious. It's just that they're both too scared to make the first move."

Miley took Lilly's hand as she said, "And tell her that we know something about that ourselves. She shouldn't waste any more time being afraid of what might happen."

Amy lowered her sunglasses back onto her nose. "I'll tell her. You two have a good one, okay?"

"We will," said Lilly. "And thanks again!" The two of them waved as Amy pulled away, heading deeper into the valley.

After a leisurely walk back to Ruthie's house, Lilly dropped her skating bag on the front porch. "Might as well let it air out a bit," she said with a wink at her best friend.

Miley grinned and kissed Lilly on the back of her head. "Good idea," she said. "You need a shower, too." She opened the door for Lilly to step inside, then Miley followed. Unfortunately, she plowed right into Lilly's back, because Lilly had stopped when she saw the sight awaiting them inside: Luanne, Ruthie and Todd sitting in the living room, talking pleasantly.

"Sweet niblets," Lilly said quietly, drawing a look from Miley.

"You took the words right out'a my mouth, girlfriend," Miley said in just as soft a voice.

"Hello Doodlebug," Ruthie said cheerily. "Did you and my little Miley have fun today?"

"Uh!" grunted Luanne, an offended look on her face as she turned to look at her grandmother. "How come _she_ gets to be your doodlebug, Mamaw?"

Lilly walked over and playfully pointed a finger at Luanne's nose. "Because _I'm_ the sweetest," she said with a grin.

Miley walked over and took position directly behind Lilly, then she made shooing motions with her hand. "More like the stinkiest, if you ask me."

Lilly didn't even have to turn around to know exactly where to thump Miley in the chest, which she gently did. "You still love me, stinky or not."

Miley wrapped her arms around Lilly and sat down on the love seat, pulling Lilly down onto her lap. "Of course I do," she said agreeably as Lilly kicked off her shoes and shifted to sit more squarely in Miley's lap, putting her arms around Miley's neck. She wasn't entirely sure if Lilly would be comfortable kissing her in front of everyone present, but her worries were resolved by Lilly tenderly pressing her lips against Miley's for a warm kiss.

"I think I have some blackberries that are just itchin' to be made into a cobbler," said Ruthie as she stood, smoothing her shirt as she did so.

"Mind if I help?" asked Luanne, rising to join her grandmother. When Ruthie smiled in reply, Luanne did the same, and the two of them walked to the kitchen.

Miley wryly noted that she and Lilly had been left with Todd. Still, it was nice to see Luanne and Ruthie being friendly with each other. For quite some time Luanne had blamed their grandmother for the abuse she had suffered growing up, but it seemed that she been able to move past that. Miley made a mental note to ask her about that soon.

"So..." said Todd slowly. "I didn't get to, uh, finish telling the two of you what I started to last night."

There was a pause, then Lilly neutrally said, "No, you didn't."

"Look, I can see why you're mad at me—"

"Why? Because you barged into this house during Christmas two years ago and accused me of beating Miley? Oh, and you called me a 'filthy dyke', I seem to remember. In front of Miley's entire family, no less."

Todd held up his hands to try and interrupt Lilly. "I was wrong, and I really am sorry. Believe me, I got a real earful from Miley's daddy. And her grandma. And her aunt."

Miley tried not to laugh, as she could just see her family line up to chew him out at how wrong he had been. A light smack on her thigh got her to look up. "It's not funny, Miles," Lilly said. "While he was in here keeping me busy, you were out in that hayloft, nearly freezing to death."

"But you saved me, Lilly Bear, remember?" Miley said, lifting a lock of Lilly's golden hair and sniffing it before she held it to her lips. She looked Lilly in the eyes, and while there was no outward change in Lilly's facial expression, Miley could feel that inside her wife the anger was dissipating.

"I couldn't have lived without you, Miley," Lilly said, and Miley hadn't been expecting her to say that. "Not and still be able to call it living."

Miley took Lilly's hand as they looked into each other's eyes. She knew that what Lilly had said was true, and it would be just as true for her had the situation been reversed. "I wouldn't have left you, sweetheart. I swear."

Lilly moved a stray lock of Miley's hair back behind her ear. "I know," she said with a smile. She turned to Todd, and now her stance wasn't quite so hostile. "I accept your apology, Todd," she said simply. "And we both understand you had been manipulated and taken advantage of too."

"But it seems like you and Luanne managed to work some of that out," Miley said.

Todd grimaced. "I'm going to try. But some of what she did..."

Miley and Lilly traded glances. Luanne had told them exactly what she had done to Todd, and they suspected that she had taken his virginity, convincing him that he was giving it to his childhood crush Miley. Miley looked back over at him and said, "She really has turned into a different person now. But I know that some of what she did to you can never be fixed."

He nodded again. "No. It can't. But I still have to go on."

Miley and Lilly stood. "I accept your apology too," Miley said. She put her arm around Lilly and said, "I know you had a crush on me for a long time, but my heart belongs to Lilly. No one else."

Todd stood as well. "I know. I watched you two in the mall, and it was pretty obvious that you really love each other. And congratulations on your marriage." He looked directly at Lilly and said, "You got the most beautiful woman in the valley, Lilly."

Lilly grinned and said, "Nope. I got the most beautiful woman in the world." She gave Miley a kiss on the cheek and said, "But I really need to get in the shower. I'm starting to get sticky."

"Ewww!" said Miley, making a disgusted face. She pushed Lilly toward the hallway. "Go. Bathe. Get... unsticky."

Lilly turned around, taking a few steps backwards as she walked into the hallway. "Are you going to join me in a bit?" she asked in a sing-song voice.

Miley's face flushed a bit as she chewed on a fingernail, but she quickly said in a loud whisper, "Yes! Now go on!" She walked over to the kitchen to where Ruthie and Luanne were working on the pie crust. "Can I help—"

"No!" Luanne said abruptly, not even looking up. She pointed behind her in the direction of the hallway. "Go take a shower with your wife, or she'll come back in here lookin' for you in just a minute. And if she gets started on these blackberries, we won't have enough left for the cobbler."

Miley considered Luanne's words, then she turned to look down the hallway. She saw Lilly's head sticking out from behind the partially closed door to their room, grinning as she motioned for Miley to join her. Miley took one last look at the kitchen, then she grinned and rushed past Todd as she ran to where Lilly was waiting on her.

The next few days were like a dream for Miley. She and Lilly spent nearly all their time together, sharing as much as they could of Miley's childhood haunts. From picnics in the grassy fields and hikes through the woods to horseback rides and gazing at the sparkling stars, the two of them spent hours upon hours taking in the beauty of Miley's Tennessee home. They did make sure to spend just a bit of time apart, with Lilly going on a fishing trip with Robbie Ray and Jackson one afternoon while Miley helped her Mamaw clean out a storage closet and a spare bedroom in her house.

After a little over a week in Misty Hollow, Miley and Lilly were sitting on the couch watching a movie one morning when Robbie Ray came in the living room. He slipped the cell phone he had obviously been talking on into his pocket and took a seat neat to the couch where Miley and Lilly were stretched out together.

"So when're you gonna tell us what your big surprise is, old man?" Miley asked teasingly.

Robbie Ray grinned at his daughter's curiosity. She hadn't given up trying to get the secret out of him even after more than a week of trying. He cleared his throat and said, "Well, I guess it's about time for you to find out."

Miley sat up so quickly that she nearly dumped Lilly out in the floor "Hey!" said Lilly as she turned around to fuss at Miley for startling her, but a quick kiss from her lover quickly soothed her irritation. "Mmm, nice apology," Lilly mumbled as she slowly wrapped her arms around Miley, who gently laid back down on the couch with Lilly on her chest.

"You're really gonna tell us?" Miley asked, her eyes bright with excitement.

"Yup," Robbie Ray said, a smile on his face. "Just... not yet. Later today."

"You're mean," Miley said, adopting her Fake Pout defense.

However, Robbie Ray had seen that particular tactic many, many more times than Lilly had, and he was largely immune to it. "You girls need to have your Hannah and Lola stuff ready by four this afternoon. Leave the wigs off, but keep 'em with you, and make sure you bring an overnight bag. Hannah and Lola are goin' into Nashville this evenin'. I'll tell you the rest once we get there."

A huge smile broke out on Lilly's face. "Oh cool, Miles! I've never been to Nashville before! And we get to go as Hannah and Lola!"

Miley maintained a curious expression as she regarded her father. "So what exactly _do_ you have planned for us, you old hillbilly?" she asked playfully, both her eyebrows raised.

Robbie Ray stood and walked over to the couch. He leaned down and kissed his daughter on the forehead and said, "I guess you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?" He tousled her hair then bent down again and placed a kiss on the side of Lilly's head, since she was curled up atop Miley's chest and snuggled in tightly, happily breathing in the scent of her lover. "Remember, be ready to leave from here at four."

The rest of the morning and the early afternoon seemed to crawl past. Lilly helped Miley brush the three horses in the stable, then they gathered eggs from the hen house and finally went for a walk along the creek.

"I love the wildflowers that grow here," said Miley dreamily as she walked along the edge of the creek. Lilly had stopped to peruse some of the brightly colored flowers behind them, so Miley was talking loudly enough for Lilly to hear. "They're always so pretty this time of year." She looked up at the sky, where a few wispy clouds were drifting along.

"They're not the only pretty things this time of year," said Lilly from behind Miley. From the proximity of her voice, it sounded like she was catching back up.

Miley smiled at how sweet Lilly could be, and she turned around to blow Lilly a kiss. However, she stopped when she saw Lilly standing right behind her, holding out a bouquet of purple, yellow and orange flowers. "Lilly..."

"I hope you don't mind that I picked them, Miley, I just thought they were so pretty that... I wanted you to have them. Because you're the only thing out here more beautiful than they are." Lilly stood there a second or two longer, her expression hesitant and slightly uncertain. She hadn't asked Miley if it was okay to pick the flowers, she had just gotten the idea to do so, and she really hoped that she hadn't done the wrong thing by—

Miley surged forward and wrapped her arms around Lilly, being careful not to squash the delicate bouquet. She kissed Lilly hotly, holding her best friend's head in place with both hands as she wanted to take every bit of the woman she loved inside of her at that very moment, to hold her and love her as deeply as anyone ever could. She felt Lilly's trepidation melt away under the heat of their kiss, and then her wife's arms carefully embraced Miley, holding her tightly.

When they pulled their lips apart from each other, Lilly could see tears trickling down Miley's cheeks, and suddenly she was afraid that she had still done something wrong. But Miley smiled and leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on Lilly's nose. As usual, that brought a soft laugh bubbling up in Lilly, making her feel more at ease. "So you like it?" Lilly asked, bringing the flowers back between them for Miley to look at.

Miley carefully took the bouquet from Lilly and sniffed them, then she looked up with her moist eyes and said, "I think it's one of the sweetest things anyone's ever done for me. I always wanted someone to pick flowers for me growin' up."

Lilly was surprised, because she had thought... "You mean no one's ever picked a bouquet of flowers for you before?" she asked, her face reflecting her disbelief.

"No," Miley said, shaking her head. "You're the first."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Had a few boys send me flowers or get me flowers over the years, but I never had anyone pick 'em for me before."

Lilly smiled. "Well, now you have," she said simply.

Miley took a look at Lilly's stunning face, aglow in the bright sunshine. "Anybody ever pick you flowers?"

Lilly rolled her eyes. "No," she said. "I mean, we live on the beach. About all that grows there is a bunch of weeds."

Miley nodded her head. _Good. Then I can be the first._ She smiled, which didn't go unnoticed by Lilly.

"There _was_ this one time that Oliver got me a really pretty seashell, though. We were six, playing on the beach."

Miley tamped down the slight surge of jealousy that she felt deep inside. She had nothing to be jealous about. After all, Lilly loved her and no one else. Not like she did Miley. "Was it a pretty shell?" she asked, keeping her voice neutral.

Lilly laughed. "Yeah, it was really pretty. Until the crab in it pinched the crap out of my finger."

Miley started laughing then, making Lilly laugh along with her. "Oh, poor Oliver!"

Lilly couldn't help but grin, because Miley understood her too well. "I'd say, poor Oliver. Dumped that crab down his shorts."

They laughed as they walked back toward the house, holding hands and enjoying each other's company. After about ten minutes Ruthie's house was back in sight, and Miley once again looked down at her flowers and took a happy sniff of them. "Thanks again, Lilly Bear," she said.

"You're welcome, Miley Pie."

Miley almost choked when she heard Lilly's name for her. "What? Miley Pie?" she asked.

Lilly grinned. "Yeah, you like it?"

Miley thought, then she said, "Yeah, I do. It's different, and it's something you thought of. That means the name has love in it."

Lilly leaned against Miley as they neared the house. "Yeah, it sure does," she said pleasantly. "Hey Miles?"

"Yeah?"

"You think your dad might be willing to leave a little early? I'd kinda like to stop someplace before we do whatever it is he wants Hannah and Lola to do."

"As us or as them?"

"As them."

Miley thought for a minute, then she remembered. The shelter. The shelter that the HLM Foundation had renovated and expanded last year, adding a school, counseling and health care services to it before donating it to the state of Tennessee. It had been in Nashville. "You want to see the shelter?" she asked.

Lilly looked at Miley and nodded. "Yeah. I do."

"I'll ask Daddy, but I don't see why we couldn't stop by. I'd like to see it too."

"Thanks, Miles."

"You're welcome, Lil."

As they climbed the porch steps, Lilly hurried to open the door for Miley, giving her a little bow as she walked through the door.

"Silly," Miley said with a grin. "Go ahead and check the bags if you want, and I'll call Daddy in just a minute."

Lilly smiled as she said, "Okay." She waved at Ruthie, who was sitting in the living room reading the newspaper. "Hey Mamaw," Lilly said. "We might be leaving a bit early."

"You girls have a good time, doodlebug," Ruthie said as she continued to focus on her newspaper. At least until Lilly had gone down the hallway to the guest room. Then she peered over the top of the newspaper to see what Miley was doing.

As Miley opened the cabinet doors, she didn't realize she was humming to herself. Lilly would have immediately recognized the song as "One in a Million," but Ruthie was far enough away that it took her a minute to clearly discern the melody. As she covertly watched, she saw Miley pull a short-stemmed vase from beneath the sink. While Miley ran some water into the vase, Ruthie noticed that she was carrying a small bouquet of wildflowers, which she then placed into the small vase. She arranged the flowers a few times before finally deciding on a pattern she liked, then she stepped back and just stared at the multicolored flowers for a few seconds, smiling and continuing to hum all the while. Finally she stepped forward, leaned over the flowers one more time and inhaled deeply. She closed her eyes and sighed as her smile grew even more, then she carefully moved the vase to the center of the kitchen table, settling it as the centerpiece. Once she was satisfied, she turned and hurried down the hallway to their room.

Ruthie lowered the newspaper and looked at the flowers now resting on the kitchen table. She reached behind her for a Kleenex, dabbing her eyes before any tears could leak out. _How in the world did you know, Robbie Ray, when you wrote that song? How did you know that my little granddaughter would meet the one person in the world that would be perfect for her? _ She thought for a minute, then she nearly laughed. _But then, it __did__ take little Miley to make that one little correction in the lyrics and get the gender right. You missed that one, old boy._ With a smile on her face, she went back to reading her newspaper.

**Afterword:** I was planning on revealing Robbie Ray's surprises (yes, I _did_ use the plural form of surprise) this chapter, but Miley's and Lilly's time together grew to be more than I had been expecting. However, I find the end result to be quite lovely. Next chapter you'll finally get to see just what the "old hillbilly" has arranged, and it might just make you appreciate him even more. I'll be starting the next chapter immediately, because I still have so much more to write before the story is complete! Hope you enjoyed it!

Jo


	24. Chapter 24: Big Things One Day Come

**Author's Note:** Welcome back! I promise, this chapter does indeed have Robbie Ray's surprises revealed, so no more throwing rocks at me, please. Hope everyone is still enjoying themselves with this story, and sorry that it took a few days longer than I was planning. You'll see why, I promise.

**Initiate 6**, you get special recognition for spotting and being the first one to point out the importance of November 29, 2008, in my Lileyverse! I had that date in mind this whole week, and I was determined to get the most recent chapter posted that day as a mini-celebration. Oh, and I'm ecstatic about how well _South of Nowhere_ ended! If you haven't been watching that show, I strongly encourage you to check it out, either on The N's website, reruns or by buying Seasons One and Two on DVD. I had some real fears throughout the final episode, but it ended almost perfectly. And the sneak peeks into the future through the mini-webisodes were just adorable! But now it's time to get back to our main girls, because all of you have waited patiently for this chapter. Thank you so much for the kind reviews and for following this story. We're down to the last two chapters, and you're about to make it one less. Hope you enjoy it.

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_ If you'd like a refresher on Miley's family in Tennessee, please take a look at the Tennessee Cast of Characters at the beginning of Chapter 21.

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 24: Big Things One Day Come

_Hello hello_

_We're at a place called vertigo_

_Lights go down_

_And all I know is_

_That you give me something_

_I can feel your love teaching me how_

_Your love is teaching me how_

_How to kneel_

-U2; "Vertigo"

As the limousine smoothly traveled down I-40 West, Miley and Lilly sat next to each other, watching a DVD on the television in the rear section of the vehicle. Both girls counted "Lilo and Stitch" as one of their favorite movies, one that they knew so well that actually watching or listening to it wasn't entirely necessary to follow along. It had been Robbie Ray's idea to bring a few DVDs in the limousine for the three-hour drive to Nashville, and both Miley and Lilly were extremely glad he had done so.

"Oh my gosh, that is my _favorite_ part!" shrieked Lilly immediately after Stitch pouted at Lilo by rolling himself into a ball and banging around her room.

Miley laughed in time with her best friend, pondering whether she should make any comparisons between Stitch and Lilly when she got irritated about something.

"Is that what I get like when I get really frustrated, Miles?" asked Lilly sweetly.

Miley looked at Lilly and the happy smile on her face. She opened her mouth to deny any such similarities, but she caught herself before she spoke. _Lilly knows me better than I know myself. She's going to know if I lie __about it, even a white lie._ Miley noted the twinkle in her wife's bright blue eyes, and she knew exactly what to say. "Yes!" she said, pouncing on Lilly and tickling her belly madly.

Lilly was too busy laughing and squealing to form a coherent protest, so instead she just accepted the truth she already knew. She stopped fighting and quickly found herself with her arms pinned over her head on the sofa-like leather seat. "Love me?" she asked, smiling.

Miley held Lilly's hands over her head with her right arm, shifting to bring her right leg across Lilly's hips and straddle her as she kept her left hand poised over Lilly's ribs. She leaned down and kissed Lilly's nose lightly as she said, "Always and forever."

Lilly glanced up to the front of the limousine, sealed off from the rear by a thick partition that had remained closed the entire trip. "What does your dad think we're doing?" she asked impishly.

Miley rolled her eyes. "Knowin' him, he's probably tryin' _not_ to think about it. Not like we'd actually do anything in the backseat of a limo with him right up front." When Lilly didn't reply, Miley looked down at her girlfriend only to see a mischievous grin she immediately recognized. "Uh uh! No way!" she said. "We are _not_ fooling around with anybody sittin' up there in the front seat, especially Daddy!"

Lilly grinned as she sat up, holding Miley on her lap facing her. "Not fool around _too_ much..." she said tantalizingly. "Maybe just a kiss or two. I mean, I'd be way too nervous to do anything else." She leaned forward until her lips gently touched Miley's lips, always soft, warm and inviting. As Lilly closed her eyes and wrapped her arms tightly around Miley, she again relished the taste of Miley's lips and mouth, accentuated by her grape lip gloss but made perfect by the same spark of passion that had marked the very first kiss the two had shared several years ago.

After several minutes of kissing and hugging, they found themselves stretched out along the leather bench seat, still kissing as they mixed short, soft pecks with much deeper, hungrier kisses. Miley didn't deliberately slide her hand down Lilly's hip and then under the edge of her skirt, but somehow her fingers worked their way under the edge of the piece of clothing standing between her and the woman she loved so desperately. When she realized how close she was to doing something that would probably embarrass them both, she hesitated, pulling her lips back just a few millimeters from Lilly's. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, I—"

"Shhh," whispered Lilly, her eyes warm and loving. "You can do it if you want." She smiled at Miley, and in that smile was a trust so innocent and honest that it nearly made Miley cry.

Instead Miley took that wandering hand and found one of Lilly's, sliding her fingers between her wife's and gripping her hand tightly. "Might be safer if this bad little hand just held yours," she said, her heart thumping powerfully in her chest and loudly in her ears.

Lilly continued to stare into her lover's ocean blue eyes, the warmth of her gaze saying volumes about how much she loved and trusted Miley. "I'm okay with that too," she said softly. She shifted to free her other arm, previously pinned under Miley as she held her on the leather seat; with that hand she reached up and brushed a few strands of Hannah's blonde hair away from Miley's face so she could clearly stare into those amazing blue eyes. "You can always do anything you want with me, Miles," Lilly whispered. "I'll never tell you no."

Miley leaned forward and kissed Lilly with an intensity that caught Lilly off guard at first, but then her own heart sped up to match the pace of Miley's as she felt that intensity spread from her mouth through her chest and then into her arms, legs, hands and feet. Miley tried her best to project through that volcanic kiss every speck of love, passion, devotion and trust that she felt for Lilly, and judging by the way Lilly moaned into her mouth, Miley was pretty sure she got her point across.

"Wow," Lilly said, her eyes rolling briefly as stars swam across her field of vision when Miley pulled back just enough for the two of them to breathe. "You'd think I could hold my breath as long as you, as much as I surf."

Miley smiled and tenderly said, "Lungs of a singer, remember?" making Lilly giggle.

"Yeah, and they come in handy some times," Lilly said, a naughty smirk on her face. "Like last night, for instance."

Miley grinned brightly, lightening the mood without detracting from the intimacy of the moment. "I love loving you," she said as she gripped Lilly's hand a bit more loosely. She had been squeezing so hard that _her_ fingers were tingling, and she didn't want to hurt Lilly. Lilly probably wouldn't have said anything about it hurting even if it had, anyway.

As Miley spoke, Lilly said, "Aww, that's so sweet, honey. And I love having you love me. More than..." She looked at Miley with that oh-so-adorable quirky smile that was just so _Lilly_, and she said, "Well, I really should say _as much as_ you know, because I know you love me just as much as I love you."

Miley dampened down the grin to a warm smile, pleased that Lilly had corrected herself. "Right," she said as she gave her a short kiss. "And Lilly?"

"Yeah?"

"I promise I'll never do anything that would make you want to say no." Miley knew it was crazy to make promises like that about the future, because both of them were all too aware that sometimes accidents or misunderstandings would happen, and it was dumb to—

"Okay."

Miley blinked as she processed Lilly's simple reply. "Okay?" she asked, confused.

"Yeah, okay." Lilly could feel as well as see Miley's confusion, and it was hard not to laugh at how darn cute Miley looked when she got that way. "I know what you mean, Miles. 'We don't know the future' and 'accidents happen' and all that. But I don't care about what _might_ happen, or what _could_ happen. I know in my heart that you're never going to do anything I wouldn't want you to. That's just how amazing a woman you are."

Now Miley knew the tears would start, and with her lying on her side she could feel them slide sideways down her face, but she didn't do anything to stop them. Instead she just blinked them out of her eyes and continued to take in the beautiful sight of the woman who had pledged her life and heart to her forever. Miley hugged Lilly tightly, and no words were spoken for several miles of highway as the two of them just enjoyed being in each other's arms.

Before much longer they were in Nashville, driving through the city on their way to the shelter. They exited off I-40 onto Broadway, then made a few more turns before finally turning into a large complex off Hayes Street. They were in a more run-down part of town, with most of the businesses around them closed and even boarded up in a few cases.

"Wow, this part of town looks sad," Lilly said as she looked out the window.

Miley leaned against her best friend as she too looked out the window. "It's not exactly the worst part of Nashville, but it's sure not the best, either. It's a place where people could use some help at times."

"Is that it?" Lilly asked as a large three-level building came into view beside them. It was done in red brick like many of the other buildings they had seen along this road, but its large windows and green field full of trees and flowers behind the main building managed to project a feeling of hope. On the side of the high brick wall running along the road, they could see the sign reading **Montana Children's Center**. As the limousine pulled into the complex, it stopped at a traffic gate. Miley and Lilly looked to the other side of the vehicle to see a security guard talk to the limousine driver, then the vehicle was once again in motion. As they passed by the security guard, Miley and Lilly saw him wave to them even though they knew he couldn't actually see them. Still, they found themselves waving back anyway.

As the limo made its way down the access road running between several smaller buildings on either side, they could see people stopping to watch them, probably curious to see exactly who warranted such transportation around here. Among those people were two separate groups of small children, walking in the company of three or four adults for each group. Several of the children were openly staring and pointing, and it was all Miley and Lilly could do not to laugh at the excitement on several of the small faces.

"Did they know we were coming?" asked Lilly.

Miley shook her head. "Don't think so. But then I didn't say for anybody not to tell them."

The limousine pulled up under the covered area in front of the main door and stopped. Miley slid to the side and opened the door herself rather than wait for someone else to open it for her. As Hannah's blonde hair popped out, it only took a few seconds for the first squeals and screams to split the air. Miley grinned and turned to help Lilly out, and when Lola's bright orange hair appeared the high-pitched shrieks only doubled in intensity. Lilly looked at Miley and said, "That advice you gave me a couple years ago about orange never being a bad color to wear in Tennessee?" She gave Miley a thumbs-up and added, "Good stuff, girlfriend."

Miley grinned and rolled her eyes as the first wave of little bodies ran into the two of them, and before they knew it she and Lilly were kneeling on the ground, giving hugs to everyone they could.

"Boys and girls!" yelled a voice from somewhere outside the scrum of bouncing children. "Give our guests some room to breathe!" As the children slowly parted, a woman who appeared to be in her late forties or early fifties stepped forward. Her hair was silver and had been cut rather short, but her smile and eyes softened her appearance significantly. "I'm Myra Schultz, the director for the Montana Center," she said as she held out her hand.

Miley and Lilly stood, and each young woman shook her hand. "Sorry for the short notice," Lilly said, "but we were going to be in town tonight, and we really wanted to get to meet some of the kids here."

"We really hope you don't mind," Miley said, hoping that they weren't causing any trouble by just showing up.

Ms. Schultz smiled as she looked at Miley and Lilly. "Why would I mind? You two made this place happen! I think it's terrific that you want to see just what these kids are up to." She turned around to look at the twenty or thirty kids gathered around them. "You boys and girls want to show Hannah and Lola Montana around your school?"

"YES!!!" was the enthusiastic answer from the multitude of voices, putting big grins on the faces of Miley and Lilly.

"Well, okay, show us around!" Miley said as Lilly stood beside her, taking her hand quietly as they began to walk.

After a little over an hour, Miley was out of breath from walking but her heart was soaring. Lilly wasn't so much as breathing hard from the exertion, but her heart was racing from seeing how much good the shelter was doing for the children of the area. In addition to a special needs elementary school and middle school inside the facility, the Montana Center also housed a free health clinic for both children and their families, a vocational training program to help parents learn new job skills and re-enter the job market, and counseling services for families. In addition to basic curriculum, the schools placed strong emphasis on the arts and cooperation; in children who had often been the victims of violence and abuse, the Center's approach had already made several breakthroughs in children thought to be beyond saving in other area schools.

As Miley and Lilly stopped to gather their thoughts in the Center's cafeteria, they went through the line and gathered their lunch like everyone else, students and faculty alike. As they stood in the line to check out, they noticed that none of the students paid for their food, only the faculty. When Lilly reached the cashier, she reached into her pocket for some money, only to stop when the cashier loudly cleared her throat. "What?" Lilly asked, confused.

"Ma'am," said the older woman, "if I charge you for your lunch, there's gonna be about a hunnerd kids throwin' stuff at me." She smiled sweetly at Lilly and said, "Now, you don't want that to happen, do you?"

Lilly smiled back. "No, I guess not," she answered.

"Just seein' how you two have everyone walkin' on air is enough for all a' us," the cashier added. "And thank you. For all this. My granddaughter goes here, and this place has done more good for her than anything else we've found." She reached out and gently squeezed Lilly's hand. "God bless you both, young lady."

Lilly found herself blinking back tears, but managed a smile and whispered, "Thank you," as she picked up her tray and moved to wait on Miley. After a few seconds, Miley realized that she wasn't going to be allowed to pay either, so she also thanked the cashier and walked over to where Lilly was standing. Together the two of them found an end of a table that wasn't fully occupied. They braced for the expected swarming as they began to eat, but surprisingly no one rushed to sit with them.

The clatter of a tray hitting the synthetic surface of the table made both Miley and Lilly look up. An older girl with long, dirty blonde hair sat down two seats away from them. "This is the troublemakers' table," she said with a smile. "At least that's what we call it."

Miley looked at Lilly. "Are we troublemakers?" she asked her girlfriend.

Lilly stared back and said, "Well, you are. That's for sure."

Miley grinned, triggered a matching smirk from her wife. "Yeah, I guess we both are then." She turned to look at the girl, who looked to be fifteen or maybe sixteen. She was definitely one of the oldest students they had seen so far today. "What's your name?"

"Paula," the girl said. "How much are they paying you two for this?"

"Excuse me?" Lilly asked, a look of surprise on her face.

"You know, for showing up dressed like that and walkin' around the school." She snorted. "No way in hell the real Hannah and Lola Montana would show up at some place like this."

Miley was speechless. However, Lilly wasn't.

"You know, you think you've got it all figured out, don't you?" Lilly asked, a hint of anger in her voice. Without waiting for an answer, she asked, "What's your favorite Hannah song?"

"What?" the girl sputtered, apparently not used to anyone arguing with her. "The hell kinda question is that?"

Lilly held her gaze as she repeated, "What's your favorite Hannah song?" When no answer was forthcoming, her face softened slightly. "You know, I can tell you really like her music. That's why you're so mad, because you think this is some joke or some trick to make everybody feel better." She paused for a few seconds, then she continued, "Well, it's not. We're in Nashville tonight because we're spending time with Hannah's family for the summer, and we wanted to come see if our foundation was really helping out teenagers and kids here or not. There's no trick here. And we're not being paid anything for being here. We're here because we want to make sure that this place is making a difference."

Paula was quiet for a few seconds, then she said, "You're really them?"

"Yeah," said Miley and Lilly at the same time.

"Cool," she said, nodding her head. "Then I guess I don't feel like such a dork for liking your songs."

Lilly opened her mouth to say something, but Miley gently rested her hand on top of Lilly's, forestalling any comment. "Why would listening to my music make you a dork?" Miley asked seriously. "Because I sing about things like being in love and trying to enjoy life?"

Paula cast a shaded glance at Miley. "You don't know what I've been through," she said, and there was a definite hard edge in her voice now.

"No, we don't," Miley said carefully. "But we do know that you're here now. You have the chance to choose your own future rather than let your past eat you alive."

"It's not that easy sometimes," the young girl said, and as her eyes reddened she suddenly looked so much younger and more vulnerable than her age suggested. She blinked and looked at Miley, and it was all Miley could do not to reach across the table and pull her into a comforting hug. "Life just sucks, you know?" she said flippantly, looking away, and then the wall behind her eyes was up again. "But this place is okay. Not like some of the other places I've lived in. Some of them were just as bad as what I ran away from."

As she listened to Paula's halting words, Miley thought about just how lucky she had been. Yes, she had lost her mother and that had devastated her, but she still had one parent who loved her and took care of her. Her father had dealt with the emotional trauma of losing his wife, somehow, because he had two children to finish raising.

"You know what's really funny?"

Miley looked back up at the same time as Lilly at Paula's words. "What's that?" Miley asked.

"In a weird way, you two have done more for me than either of my parents did. I mean, I used to listen to your music when I could. When I was younger, I mean. Before—" She stopped and looked down for long seconds. When she looked back up, her face was tight. "Anyway, I still would think about your songs when I'd go to sleep. About how things can get better if you try hard enough, and about how love is so strong and all that. It sounds sappy, but sometimes those songs were the only good things I had." She looked between Miley and Lilly, and now her eyes seemed happier. "I got a girlfriend, too," she said proudly. "We met at Christmas here. She and her mom got a place to stay a couple months ago, but her mom won't let me stay with her. She said she can't trust us not to fool around."

Miley and Lilly glanced at each other, wisely staying silent on that particular topic.

"She don't know that— Well, that we haven't done anything like... _that_... yet. Neither of us is ready, you know? Not after what we both went through. But we hold hands and kiss, and that's enough for now."

Lilly smiled at Paula's honesty. "There's a lot to be said for taking things at your own speed," she said.

Paula looked at Lilly and nodded slowly. "Yeah, we both need to do that."

"What's her name?" asked Miley.

Paula smiled. "Hannah," she said. "I swear on my life!" she added, slapping her hand over her heart and holding it there.

Miley grinned and looked down at the table, but Lilly beamed and sweetly said, "I think that's a beautiful name. And we're happy for you two, for finding each other and not letting go."

Paula smiled, and the smile seemed so genuinely happy that her whole demeanor seemed to change. "We oughta believe in love," she said softly, then she stood. "Thanks," she said, "for everything. And it was 'I Got Nerve'. My favorite song of yours, I mean."

As Paula turned and walked off, Miley took Lilly's hand and held it firmly. Lilly tried to catch her breath, finally succeeding as she looked around the cafeteria, taking in the scores of children and young teenagers eating, talking, laughing, being kids. For them, for today, the cruelties of life had been held back. Here they were fed, clothed, cared for and given a chance to make a new life, regardless of what terrors had been inflicted upon them. As Lilly looked around, she whispered, "I don't think I've ever been more proud to be your wife."

Miley held back her own tears as she said with a shaky voice, "I feel exactly the same way, sweetheart." She looked at Lilly and said, "We really made a difference, didn't we? For them?"

Lilly nodded before leaning forward and resting her head on Miley's shoulder. "Yeah," she whispered. "We really did."

It took another two hours to see the rest of the Center, but Miley and Lilly were determined to see everything before they left. They also made a point to meet as many of the children and teenagers who lived there or attended classes at the Center's schools along the way, and by the time they made it back to their limousine they realized that part of them didn't want to leave.

Miley and Lilly stood holding each other as they looked at the mob of children, teenagers and adults waving goodbye to them. "Thank you so much for showing us around!" Miley said loudly. "We love all of you!"

"We'll try to get back as soon as we can!" Lilly added. "But we'll send some stuff for everyone just as soon as we can get it out here!" She and Miley had already decided to send several large boxes of clothes, bedding and school supplies as quickly as they could make the phone calls, and she hoped that some of that would continue to put smiles on the little faces she saw smiling at her.

"Come visit us again soon!" called out one high-pitched voice from among the crowd.

"We will," Miley said, too quiet to be heard by anyone but her wife. "We will."

As the limousine pulled away, Lilly held Miley as the two of them wiped gently at their eyes with some Kleenex. After a few minutes she said, "I'm proud of you, Hannah." Lilly smiled as she looked into Miley's sparkling blue eyes, accentuated by the light dusting of glitter around her eyes.

Miley looked into Lilly's eyes as well, and she said, "I'm proud of you too, Lola. And I always want to make you proud of me."

Lilly brushed a lock of Hannah's golden hair out of Miley's eyes as she tenderly said, "Well, you're doing a pretty darn good job so far." She looked out the window and saw that the buildings around them were growing in size and scale. "We must be going into the downtown part of Nashville, huh?"

Miley looked around, but truthfully she couldn't tell exactly where they were. "I'm not sure where we are, hon." She pulled out her cell phone and dialed her father's number. After dropping Miley and Lilly off, the limo had taken Robbie Ray elsewhere before returning to wait for the ladies to finish their tour of the Montana Center. After two rings, she heard him pick up. "Daddy? We left the shelter a few minutes ago, and it was amazing! I mean, we've got so much to tell you about—" She stopped abruptly, listening to something Robbie Ray was saying. Lilly watched her face closely, and it seemed to be slightly confused as Miley listened. "Okay, then we'll see you there." Miley clicked her phone shut and looked at Lilly. "He said that he had already talked to the limo driver and that he was taking us straight to our surprise."

"Our surprise is a place?" asked Lilly, now just as confused.

"He didn't say, just that he'd see us when we got there."

As the limousine made its way through downtown Nashville, Miley began to recognize buildings and landmarks more frequently. Her brain whirled, trying to make sense of where they were going until finally a destination popped into her head. "Oh my gosh," she said with a strangled voice, instantly putting Lilly on alert.

"Honey?" Lilly asked, looking at Miley with concern written on her face. "What's wrong? Talk to me."

Miley turned to look at Lilly, and now the shock on her face gave way to elation; instantly Lilly's worry eased as she saw that her best friend was okay. "I think I know where we're going," She looked ahead. "If he makes a right turn here..." Both Miley and Lilly held their breath as the limousine crawled ahead in the busy traffic, finally reached the intersection and slowly turned right. "YES!" Miley shouted.

Now Lilly could see up ahead, where a line of people was stretched out along the sidewalk. The line led to what appeared to be a theater of some sort, but from her perspective Lilly couldn't see the venue's sign. She could, however, see that the red carpet had quite literally been rolled out to the curb, and the limousine was slowing down and pulling next to the curb as they approached. "What is this place?" she asked.

Miley spun around in the seat with so much force that she nearly turned completely around. Her voice was energized as she said, "It's the Grand Ole Opry, Lilly! At the Ryman House!"

"So it's something good?"

"Yes!" Miley took Lilly's hand, and the shaking in Miley's was obvious to both young women. "Every boy or girl growin' up in Tennessee who can sing or play any musical instrument has the dream of bein' on stage at the Grand Ole Opry at least once in their life. I haven't even been to a show here in years, and now Daddy's got us passes to be here tonight!"

The limo came to a stop as Lilly asked, "What kind of music do they play here?"

"Mostly country," Miley said as the door opened, revealing a wall of cascading camera flashes. "But sometimes they'll invite someone who's more rock or pop to perform. I wonder who'll be performing tonight."

Lilly smiled and pointed over Miley's shoulder and past her head. "Take a look and see for yourself," she said.

Miley turned slowly. Her eyes locked in on the large marquee sign proclaiming, **SPECIAL GUEST ARTIST HANNAH MONTANA TONIGHT ONLY!**

Lilly always found it cute when Miley's mouth would work but nothing would come out. Right now was definitely one of those times. She gently pushed Miley to get her moving out of the limousine, then she put her arm around Miley and helped steer her forward along the red carpet. "I think I like your dad's surprise," Lilly said as she kissed Miley on the cheek. "How about you?"

"Uh," Miley eloquently replied.

Lilly snickered. "You've got a real way with words, sweetheart, and don't ever let anybody tell you different!"

As they reached the door to the Ryman, Roxy stepped out and held the door open for them. "Well, fancy meeting you two here!" she said cheerily.

"You were in on this too?" Miley asked, finding her voice now that the waves of flashes were behind them.

"Yep!" Roxy said proudly. "I think your daddy did good in keepin' this a secret from you."

"I think he did great," Lilly said as she slid her left arm along Miley's right, taking her arm formally. "This is a great surprise!"

Roxy leaned forward and whispered, "Baby girl, the real surprise ain't even popped its head up yet."

Lilly's eyes grew huge at that statement, but by the look on Roxy's face she knew that any further questions would be futile. Instead she just shrugged and smiled. Robbie Ray wouldn't do anything that would hurt his daughter or daughter-in-law, that she knew. So whatever the "real" surprise was would be a good thing.

As Miley and Lilly stepped inside, they were hurriedly escorted back along a wide corridor to the backstage area. There Miley saw her band getting their instruments set up. "He even had the band in on it!" she said loudly, stomping her foot in mock outrage.

"Careful, Hannah," Lilly said with a smirk. "Or you're gonna get a reputation for throwing temper fits. And for being hard to work with."

Miley spun, and the expression on her face was more playful than angry, but only Lilly could appreciate the difference at this moment. "And who's to say I'm _not_ hard to work with?" she said loudly as she grabbed both of Lilly's wrists, pushing her lover back against the wall.

As Miley leaned against Lilly, using her upper body to pin her wife against the cold surface of the wooden wall behind her, she felt her breathing change as she drew close enough to feel Lilly's warm, sweet breath against her face. This close she could hear as well as feel the thrumming of her best friend's heart, just like she could feel that heart speed up as their lips drew closer. After impossibly long seconds Miley felt Lilly's soft, slick lips brush against her own, and then they lost themselves in each other as the kiss grew more intense.

"A-hem," came a male voice from behind Miley.

Lilly glanced over Miley's shoulder as Miley slightly pulled away, licking her lips before her eyes fluttered open. "Love you," she whispered to Miley as she saw Robbie Ray standing there, a smile on his face.

"Well, I see you two didn't waste any time findin' a dark corner to make out," Robbie Ray said teasingly.

"Ah, we don't need a dark corner," Miley said, turning around and leaning back against Lilly, who wrapped her arms around her best friend. "We don't mind to kiss much of anywhere now." She smiled a long, happy smile as she felt Lilly's warmth seep into her body. Kissing always made both of them warm, but Lilly's body temperature always seemed to heat up faster. _In more ways than one_, Miley thought with a widening of her grin.

"You're thinking dirty thoughts about me, aren't you?" whispered Lilly into Miley's left ear.

Miley looked behind her and said, "Yeah, I am," her smile still in full force.

Lilly smiled back and softly said, "Good. I like it when you use your imagination." She saw Miley's cheeks redden slightly, so she lifted her head and said to Robbie Ray, "This is an awesome surprise, Mr. M!"

Robbie Ray lifted an eyebrow in a way quite similar to Miley. His fake mustache made the gesture more amusing, Lilly noticed. "This is a very special night, ladies. And it ain't over yet." Without explaining his cryptic comment, he pointed to Hannah's band. "Might want to check in with your crew over there before long. You're gonna be goin' on stage in about forty, forty-five minutes."

As it sunk into Miley's brain that she was really going to be playing _here_, at the Grand Ole Opry, _tonight_, she felt things spin just for a moment. But then she felt a comforting squeeze around her chest, and the world righted itself as quickly as it had started to spiral away. She turned to look into Lilly's bright blue eyes. "Thanks," she said.

"For what?"

"For being here for me. For being here _with_ me." She turned, leaned in and rested her forehead against Lilly's. "There's no one I'd rather have with me here, tonight, for this moment." She closed her eyes for a bit, then she blinked them open. "Do you mind if I play our song tonight?"

Lilly snorted lightly. "Why would I mind? I love our song."

"Well, I don't have my guitar..." Miley said sadly.

This last Christmas Lilly had gotten Miley a special present. Well, to be precisely correct, _Lola_ had gotten _Hannah_ this particular present: a custom-painted Ibanez ARX320 electric guitar. The body had been painted purple and white in a large star pattern with gold trim and highlights, and the fretboard had tiny inlays of their interlocking HLM logo. "A rock star should have a rock star guitar," Lilly had said when Miley had opened it, and Miley had nearly tackled her as she hugged and kissed Lilly in thanks. Even since then, Miley always made sure she played their song "When I'm With You" using that guitar.

Lilly frowned a bit, because she knew that Miley didn't want to play their song without her special guitar. However, before she could say anything, Robbie Ray tapped Miley on the shoulder from behind.

"Hey bud?" he said softly.

"Yeah, Daddy, what—" Miley gasped as she turned and saw what Robbie Ray was holding up. "My guitar! But—"

"I made sure that Roxy brought it straight here for tonight. She personally carried it here, because I wouldn't trust anyone else with somethin' so important to you."

Miley leaped forward and wrapped her arms around her father's neck, tears trickling down her cheeks. "Thanks, Daddy," she whispered. "Thanks for everything that you've done for me." She gathered her voice and carefully took the guitar from his hand, throwing its strap over her neck. She looked around for a minute, then the stage lights clicked on just yards away from them. Miley looked at the rather basic set dressing, then she said, "I finally get the chance to live this dream, too." She didn't try to wipe the tears away now, instead letting them slide silently down her face. "It's almost perfect," she said in a voice softened with a hint of sadness.

"She's here, Miley," Lilly said tenderly, resting her hand on Miley's shoulder. "You and I both know it. Your dad knows it, too." Lilly looked at Robbie Ray, who looked away.

"I know she's here, bud," he said as he looked up at the lights. "She wouldn't miss this for anything in the world." He blinked a few times and said, "Dang, those lights sure are bright," then he turned and walked off. "Be back in a minute, after I find the bathroom," he called out as he walked away.

True to his word, Robbie Ray did come back after a few minutes. His eyes were still just a bit red, but neither Miley nor Lilly said anything to him about it. Instead they watched the show from the wings, and Lilly found herself pleasantly surprised. Country music was certainly not her thing, but the show was more of a variety of different acts, ranging from the expected country stars to comedians and crossover artists. More than once she found herself laughing at the easy-going humor and friendliness exhibited by all the performers; it was almost like just being at this place relaxed everyone and filled them with the same spirit of happiness she had grown to associate with Miley's home state.

Finally Miley's name was up in the set list. As the stage crew began setting up her band's equipment, Lilly took Miley over to the side for one last pep talk.

"You're going to do great," Lilly said, giving Miley a warm smile. "You're amazing, sweetheart."

Miley looked a bit skeptical still. "Yeah, but it's the _Opry_, Lola. This is the biggest spotlight for music in Tennessee!"

"Yes, it is. And you're Hannah Montana. You _own_ the spotlight, hon. Now go out there and show everyone just what you can do." Lilly gave Miley a kiss for encouragement, and she could see the light re-ignite in her wife's cobalt eyes. "Rock 'em for me, girlfriend."

"You know it," Miley said with a grin, and now the Hannah charisma was back in full force, radiating warmly. Miley gave Lilly a smile and turned to walk over to her band.

Lilly saw that the announcer was back on the stage now, and she could hear his surprisingly powerful voice say, "And now, we're bringin' a special guest to the Ryman tonight! It's this little Tennessee girl's first time on the stage at the Grand Ole Opry, so give her a real big hand! You might've heard her name around, since she's got a pretty good start on her career so far." The audience laughed, since most of them had show programs and knew all too well who was up next. The announcer smiled and added, "Ladies and gentlemen, let's give a big welcome home to Hannah Montana!" He started the applause, and Lilly noticed that the cheers were louder for Miley than for any other artist so far tonight. _Much_ louder.

Miley walked out onto the stage, with her band quiet in the background behind her. She already was holding her guitar, and now a young man hurried out with a tall stool for her to sit on. "Hey everybody," Miley said, waving to the crowd before she hopped up onto the stool. When the audience returned the greeting, Miley smiled. "This place is real special to me, for lots of reasons. It was always one of my dreams growin' up to be here on this very stage, singin' one of my songs for all of ya'll." She smiled, but Lilly could hear a tinge of tension in her voice. "I promise to get right to the singin', but first I need to say thanks to three special people who are here tonight."

Miley shifted on her seat as she fingered the strings on her guitar idly, her hands seemingly moving of their own accord. "Now, there ain't no particular order to these three, because I love each of 'em in a slightly different way. First, I want to thank my daddy. He's played a song or two here himself, and I remember watchin' him as a little girl. I was so proud of him, up here singin' and playin' his guitar... And when he was finished and the crowd started clappin' and cheerin', it made my head spin to think, that's my daddy up there. He was the first star I ever knew, and he's the one who made me want to be a singer.

"The second person I want to thank is my momma. None of us can see her tonight, but I know she's here. I always used to tell her that one day I'd be here playin', and I know there's no way she'd miss seein' her little girl finally get her chance." Miley paused a few seconds, and she said, "I love you, Momma," as she looked up into the lights.

Then Miley smiled, and any lingering sorrow was visibly dispelled, replaced by her joyous smile. "And the last person I have to thank tonight is my best friend and wife, Lola. She's the one who gives me the strength to get through the tough times and enjoy the good ones. She's always been there for me, even when we were just friends, and I know she always will be there for me. I want the first song I ever play here at the Opry to be the song we wrote together, about how it makes me feel when I'm around her. Love is the most precious, priceless emotion we have. Give it a chance, please."

As Miley started strumming the strings on her guitar, Lilly knew that her mascara was taking a beating from her tears. Thankfully she had brought a small pack of Kleenex from the limousine, and she was now using them to try and keep the damage to her makeup at a minimum.

Their song they had co-written, "When I'm With You," was a slower one, very close to the pace and tone of "As I Am." Miley had insisted on playing the guitar on it from the very beginning, because that was how she had learned it, singing and playing along while Lilly had listened to it. Together they had shaped the feel of the song just as they had created the lyrics for it. As Miley started to sing, Lilly silently sang along, feeling each word in her heart as Miley's rich, pure voice tenderly rang out.

"_Sometimes this world we live in can beat us down._

_Storm clouds everywhere, and no sun in the sky." _ Miley stopped singing and instead wryly spoke the next line, _"Rain on my parade? Try a hurricane or two," _before again singing,

"_Sometimes I want to give up, give in, just sit down and cry..."_

She began strumming the guitar a bit louder as she started the second verse, drawing out the slightly shorter lines. _"Do we settle for less? _

_Roll the dice and take a guess? _

_In a world full of no, _

_How can we ever find our yes?"_

As she started the chorus, Miley gave herself fully to the song, hitting the notes clearly on her guitar as she closed her eyes and continued to sing from her heart.

"_But when I'm with you, life doesn't hurt so bad._

_When you're with me, I can't seem to stay sad._

_Just one little touch from you keeps all my tears and fears at bay,"_ (drawing out the last word),

"_When I'm with you, Heaven doesn't seem so far away._

Miley opened her eyes and turned to look at Lilly, her eyes making contact with the woman she loved as she continued to sing. _"Through it all you've been by my side._

_The ups, the downs, the whole crazy ride._

_But now I can see_

_You mean much more to me._

_It's time to tell you how I feel inside._

"_I tried so hard to find love, but I always came up short,_

_Trying and crying just to watch things fall apart._

_You were always by my side, drying my tears and holding my hand_

_Telling me not to give up, to try and love again._

_But now I can see_

_The one I want with me._

_She's right here, still holding my hand._

"_When I'm with you, life doesn't hurt so bad._

_When you're with me, I can't seem to stay sad._

_Just one little touch from you keeps all my tears and fears at bay..._

_When I'm with you, Heaven doesn't seem so far away."_

Miley turned back to the audience and sang the next lines louder, emphasizing them clearly. _"This life can be hard,_

_This world can be mean._

_But we won't let anyone pull us apart,_

_Because our love is here to stay."_

She stopped strumming the guitar, and now her voice softened to a velvety tone that sent shivers up and down Lilly's spine every time she heard it. _"The first time I held your hand,_

_My heart began to beat._

_The first time we kissed,_

_My body learned to breathe._

_The first time we made love,_

_I knew that you and I were meant to be,"_ and here she sang out intensely, holding the last note with her powerful voice for long seconds before taking a breath and continuing in her softer register, _"When I'm with you..._

_Oh, when I'm with you..._

_I know I'm right where I'm supposed to be._

"_When I'm with you, life doesn't hurt so bad._

_When you're with me, I can't seem to stay sad._

_Just one little touch from you keeps all my tears and fears at bay..._

_When I'm with you, Heaven doesn't seem so far away."_

As the echoes of her voice faded, the crowd roared its approval, seemingly shaking the building with applause and cheers. Lilly could see Miley turn away from the crowd long enough to give her a smile and say, to soft to be heard above the din of the crowd but all too clear to Lilly, "I love you."

"I love you too," Lilly said through her tears of happiness as she blew her partner a kiss, then she signaled for Miley to turn back around and acknowledge the crowd cheering for her so madly.

Miley slid off the stool and bowed before the crowd, drawing even louder applause as she smiled and waved. It took a full four minutes for the cheers and applause to settle down to where speech would audibly carry, and then the announcer came back out onto the stage, with someone else walking behind him.

"Hannah, that was one heck of a performance!" the announcer said as Robbie Ray stepped forward to hug his daughter and take her guitar. "But before you start up another song, I understand that you and your lady are celebratin' something special this week."

Miley nodded. "That's right! We just graduated from high school last week, and we're spendin' some time with my family here for a couple of weeks."

"Well, congratulations to both of you!" the announcer said, and the audience politely cheered and clapped again, a bit more subdued this time. "And I also hear that you had no idea that you were fixin' to be performin' here tonight until you got here! Is that right?"

Miley grinned and pointed a finger at her father. "Yeah, this sneaky hillbilly here pulled one over on me as a surprise tonight. And let me tell ya, it's been a really terrific surprise!" The audience laughed and clapped again for several seconds.

The announcer grinned and looked at Robbie Ray. "Robbie Ray, as much as I'd love to be the one to ask this next question, I think it's only right that you ask it for us here at the Opry."

Lilly stepped forward, edging closer to the side of the stage. _What the heck are they doing? What question are they asking?_

It took Robbie Ray a few seconds to speak, and it was obvious to Miley that he was battling to maintain his composure. Finally he was able to look at the radiant young woman his daughter had grown into, and he said, "Hannah Montana, the members of the Grand Ole Opry would like to know if you'd accept their invitation... to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry."

Miley shrieked, and even covering her mouth with both hands wasn't nearly enough to contain the elation and surprise in her cry. She didn't remember Lilly running across the stage to hold her, but suddenly her best friend was holding her in her strong arms, supporting Miley as she felt her knees go wobbly. "Yes!" Miley said as she let Lilly hold her up. "Sweet niblets, yes!"

It took nearly fifteen minutes for the audience and the performers to settle down following that happy scene. After Hannah performed two more songs, an intermission was taken to let everyone calm their nerves and walk around, but Miley didn't stick around to see anyone else. It might not have been the best action for the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry, but Lilly had insisted that Miley go back to the dressing room prepared for her and lie down for a bit. Miley hadn't protested, because her head was still spinning from what had just happened.

As Miley felt the soothing touch of Lilly's fingertips across her forehead, gently lifting and separating strands of Miley's real hair, she felt the nervous energy crashing across her consciousness slowly dissipate. They were taking a chance, having Miley's Hannah wig off for the moment, but both girls felt it would help soothe both their nerves. Lilly was lying back on the plush couch in Hannah's dressing room, with Miley likewise stretched out and sprawled against Lilly. "That feels sooooo good," Miley mumbled, lost in the bliss of her wife's touch.

"Your head was pretty hot, Miles," Lilly said quietly as she placed a tender kiss on top of Miley's still-warm head.

Miley was silent for a bit, then she said, "I still can't believe it."

Lilly smiled. "I can," she said confidently. "They know that you're a great singer and performer, you're from Tennessee, you have an amazing sense of humor, and you have real respect for this place and what it stands for."

"It's sorta like a dream," Miley said before two light taps at the door drew her attention. She sighed loudly as she began slipping Hannah's wig back on. "Shoulda known that somebody'd want to come to talk to the girl of the hour," she said, half-grumbling.

"Oh, stop being such a grouch!" said Lilly, giving Miley a light smack on the arm. "You just got a huge honor, and you're complaining about people wanting to congratulate you. Talk about a diva!"

Miley grinned as she tucked her thick hair under the edge of Hannah's wig. Lilly automatically lifted the long blonde hair to check the rear of the wig for any stray locks of curly brown hair, but none were to be seen. "You look perfect," she said as she pushed Miley upright and then to her feet.

Miley struck a modeling pose, her hands framed around her smiling face as she said, "Because I'm a _star_!"

Lilly giggled and said, "And a bit full of yourself, too."

Miley dropped her hands, and all at once her eyes seemed to darken as she locked gazes with Lilly, halfway across the room now but freezing in place as she registered the smoldering in Miley's eyes. Miley slowly crossed the room, and the word _stalking_ came to Lilly's mind as she took in how each stride Miley took toward her was deliberate, sensuous, captivating. When Miley reached her she purred, "You're gonna be full of me too, girlfriend, later tonight."

Lilly's body, already aroused by Miley's sexually charged walk, jumped from "aroused" to "on fire" instantly. She pulled Miley close and kissed her deeply. Lilly knew she was wet, and she knew Miley knew she was wet. But right now wasn't the time to relieve that delicious tension building inside each of them, and their kiss reflected more than a bit of frustration at having to wait for the lovemaking they both wanted badly.

As Lilly's hands drifted down, fingers slipping beneath the back of Miley's white leather pants, Miley broke the kiss. "Lilly, sweetheart, as much as I want you to put those hands of yours all over me, we gotta wait," she said sadly. "I mean, Roxy's already given us the two minute knock, and any second she's gonna give—"

Three sharp knocks interrupted Miley. Lilly flung her head straight back until she was looking up at the ceiling, then she sighed, "Sometimes being patient is _such_ a pain in the butt." Before she could elaborate, they heard the door open behind Miley.

"Hey ladies," said Robbie Ray as he peeked inside the dressing room. "Hope you don't mind, but I got two big fans out here who are really wantin' to meet the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry and her wife."

Miley looked at Lilly. At this angle, with Lilly's head tilted back, she had a lovely view up Lilly's cute nose. "Well, at least you don't have any boogers," she said teasingly.

Lilly lifted her head back up and gave Miley a frowny face. "Ha ha," she said flatly.

"What?" Miley said, playing along. "I'll have you know I take personal hygiene _very_ seriously!"

"Oh, and that's why I found those dirty socks of yours stuffed underneath the mattress the other day, right?"

"Who even _looks_ under the mattress?"

"It has to be flipped every so often, honey."

Miley rolled her eyes. "That's what Daddy's for," she said seriously, finally getting Lilly to laugh. She called over her shoulder, "Okay, Daddy, they can come in, but not for too long, okay? We need to figure out if we're stayin' in Nashville tonight or headin' back home."

"I say stay in Nashville," they heard from behind them, and the voice of the young man speaking was so familiar that Miley and Lilly both jumped as they turned so both of them could look at the door.

"Hey Hannah, Lola," said Oliver as he stood with his arm around Ashley, looking stylish in a midnight blue evening gown. By comparison, Oliver's blue polo shirt and khaki shorts were thoroughly overwhelmed, but the look fit Oliver much more than a suit or tie would. "That was one of your best performances ever, I think," he said with a friendly voice.

Long seconds ticked off as the four of them regarded each other across the room. Finally Miley said in a loud voice, "You can close the door, Roxy. It'll be okay."

Roxy complied, but not before she gave Ashley a look that promised all sorts of unpleasantness if she tried anything Roxy didn't approve of. Ashley instinctively flinched and moved to put more of Oliver between her and the bodyguard. As Roxy closed the door, Ashley felt comfortable enough to shift her gaze back to the two superstars standing just fourteen feet away from her.

Ashley cleared her throat, and for the first time she realized that as nervous as she was about this meeting, Hannah and Lola were probably in shock. Even this close, she couldn't be sure it was Miley and Lilly beneath the wigs, although the body language reflected in the way they held each other did seem extremely familiar. "Congratulations, Hannah," she said, and the smile that crept across her face was genuine. "You really have an amazing gift, and I'm glad it's being recognized by everyone." She looked at Lola, but as she started, "Lola..." the two of them slowly began walking over to where she and Oliver stood just inside the door. Now, with them just a few feet away, she _still_ couldn't be sure it was her friends standing before her, the friends with whom she had eaten lunch, studied, watched movies, swam in the ocean, and hung out on days when nothing better to do presented itself.

Then Hannah and Lola Montana stepped forward and hugged her, and now she could feel the love that radiated from the two of them like electricity, washing over her like a wave... the same love that she had only ever felt from Miley and Lilly. And she _knew_.

As Hannah and Lola pulled back enough for Lola to grab Oliver and yank him into the group hug, Ashley could now see the sparkle in Miley's and Lilly's eyes. "But how did you—" she said. "I mean, I saw you! I saw you in front of the whole school, but both of you were standing right beside me and—"

"Hey," said Miley in her rich accent, "let a girl have _some_ secrets, will ya?"

The sheer incongruity of that statement made Ashley laugh madly, and she knew that she could never really be angry with her friends for keeping this particular secret from her as long as they had. In fact, keeping her out of it was actually protecting her, in a way. It was trying to spare her from the crush of paparazzi and the crazy demands of celebrity, both of which Ashley used to dream of but now realized she never, ever wanted to experience on a constant basis. Suddenly serious again, Ashley said, "I'll never tell anyone, I swear. No one. Not even mine and Oliver's kids when we have them."

"We're having kids?" Oliver asked.

Ashley gave him a glare. "Duh!" she said loudly, making everyone in the room laugh. "Oh! Look at this!" She held up her left hand, and the sparkle of a diamond solitaire said volumes to Miley and Lilly.

"Oh yay!" Lilly shrieked as she hugged Ashley and then Oliver. "It's about time, goofball!" she said as she playfully punched Oliver in the arm, making him wince.

"Hey, I was waiting for the perfect time! And last weekend was perfect."

Ashley smiled at her fiancée warmly. "Yes, it was," she said happily. "It was totally worth waiting for."

Lilly's eyes got nearly as big as Miley's did. "You mean—" sputtered Miley. "You two waited to—" Ashley and Oliver both nodded as they looked into each other's eyes. "But we thought that—"

"Well, that's your problem, now, isn't it?" Ashley said with a smirk, just like she would have with Miley and Lilly. "We wanted to wait. Until we were both sure that we were going to be together. That way we knew our first time with each other would really be special."

"And it was," Oliver said, giving Ashley a quick kiss.

Ashley beamed as she leaned into Oliver and looked again at Hannah and Lola. A thought stole over her, and suddenly she had a burning need to see with her own eyes what her brain had told her. "Can I..." she asked hesitantly. "I'd really like to, um..."

"Oh!" said Miley. "Sorry, it's kinda second nature to us by now." Lilly nodded as the two of them pulled off their wigs at the same time. "I mean, sometimes we forget we have 'em on."

"How have you two managed to keep something so big a secret all this time?" she asked, taking in the sight of Miley dressed as Hannah Montana and Lilly dressed at Lola Montana.

"Because it's important to us," Miley said seriously. "It's our lives, and our privacy, and our time together. We're not gonna subject ourselves or our kids to the kind of craziness that follows so many celebrities today. Not all the time. This way we can turn it on and off."

"Speaking of turned on..." Lilly said as she slid her hand down and grabbed Miley's butt rather obviously. She looked over to Oliver and Ashley and explained, "We were just getting around to me properly congratulating my wife on her big night tonight when our adoring fans came in."

Lilly's happy smile could melt icebergs at twenty paces, and it had a similar effect on Ashley and Oliver. "Then we need to let you two get to your hotel, I guess," Oliver said. He looked directly at his two best friends, and he said, "Thank you for trusting Ash with this. I hated having to keep this secret from her, but I did."

"Well, now you don't have to fib to your girlfriend any more," Miley said. "Oop, your fiancée, I mean."

"I forgive you this time, Ollie," Ashley said sweetly. "Now we have an appointment with our hotel, I think, just like I'm sure Hannah and Lola have someplace they want to be."

Miley took Lilly's hand. "Yeah, we can catch up with you two tomorrow, maybe."

"That works," Ashley said. "Our flight doesn't leave until tomorrow afternoon."

"Okay," said Miley as she and Lilly walked with Ashley and Oliver to the dressing room door.

"Um, you forgetting something?" Ashley said, pointing to Miley's head.

"OH!" said Miley as she reached up and felt her curly hair. "Dang it!" She grabbed the blonde wig that Lilly was holding out for her. Somehow Lilly had already slipped Lola's wig back on without Miley noticing.

"So exactly _how_ have you kept this a secret all these years, now?" asked Ashley sweetly. It wasn't often she got one over on her friends, so she had to enjoy it when she could.

A little over two hours later, Miley and Lilly were curled up in bed under silk sheets in one of the Presidential Suites at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. Their bellies were full from dinner and their hearts and souls were similarly filled with love for each other, rekindled by their making love for the last hour. They still had on Hannah's and Lola's wigs, because they had silently decided that tonight should belong to the young musician and the young actress who occupied half of their lives. They had earned it tonight.

"Hannah?" asked Lola softly as she ran her fingers up and down her wife's smooth back.

"Yeah sweetheart?" mumbled Hannah, her right arm stretched across Lola's bare chest so her right hand could cradle her lover's left shoulder. She was very nearly asleep, sated with joy and love, and it was all she could do to focus on her wife's words.

Lola slid her right leg out from underneath Hannah and draped it across the back of Hannah's long legs. Hannah responded by shifting her pelvis slightly, sending another thrill of pleasure through her wife as Lola felt her lover's slickness glide along her left thigh. "Mmmm," Lola purred happily as she squeezed Hannah tighter, and she very nearly lost her train of thought as the warmth of slumber crept up on her. But she managed to remember what she had wanted to say, and she whispered, "Your dad kicked ass on his surprises for us today."

"Mmm," Hannah mumbled, her lips stretching into a smile. "Yeah, he sure did." She kissed her wife's collarbone and said, "Love you, Lola."

"Love you too, Hannah."

**Afterword:** Okay, let me go ahead and answer a question that some of you are going to ask. Yes. I did write the song. It needed to be written, and that was what took quite a bit of time. I'm actually quite proud of it because it's the first song I've ever written, and it was done just for Miley, Lilly and this story. I even copyrighted it, but I won't mind anyone who truly loves Miley and Lilly singing it as long as they don't claim it as their own and do remember to dedicate it to our girls.

I apologize for this chapter taking so darn long to write, but I tried to make up for it by making it a long one. There was a lot that needed to happen in this chapter, and now all of you know whether or not Ashley will ever find out the big secret.

There's going to be one final chapter in this story, because a few loose ends need to be tied up. As soon as that one's finished, I'll be starting the fifth story in the Lileyverse septology. And let me tell you, I already have some good things planned out for our girls, as well as several things you probably won't be expecting! See you soon!

Jo


	25. Chapter 25: A Drop In the Ocean

**Author's Note:** Reaching this point is always bittersweet for me. The very last thing I finish in my stories is the Author's Note, and by finishing the last of this I've reached the end of this story for me. I've had a blast writing it, and I hope that all of you have had just as much fun reading it. Be warned, this is going to be a long chapter. I mean, a _really_ long chapter. There's quite a bit that needs to told in this chapter, but I know this is the right chapter to end the story on because it's what the story wants. Now, there are a few people I want to thank and recognize at the terminus of this story.

First, to **LaughLoveLive**, my best friend in the Liley community, I have to say thanks. You've given me inspiration, support, laughter, and happiness through your stories, your letters and your reviews. You are the reason that I'm here, because of your beautiful story "Requited" that I stumbled across a year and a half ago, and I like it so much here that I'm not leaving. You manage to treat all your couples with passion and romance, whether it be Miley and Lilly, London and Maddie, or your own champions, Raven and Chelsea. You'll always have a reader in me, even if I sometimes get behind. Thanks for everything.

To **xTexasGalx**, you've been a faithful reader, and you champion the love between Miley and Lilly as strongly as anyone here. If I can capture even a fraction of the love that exists between the two of them and present it to readers of this story, then I've done my job. If I've done it well enough to make _you_ happy, then I've done that job well. Keep reading!

To **MrFishy**, you can see the relationship between Miley and Lilly from a viewpoint that I simply can't, and you can also express it with such poignant beauty that it takes my breath away, both from the pain and the pleasure that are intertwined in the relationship between your Miley and Lilly. I miss your elegant stories, and I hope that life begins to treat you better so that you can once again share your gifted writing with us all.

To **cutflowers**, you also have a vision of Miley and Lilly that I never could have envisioned, and I never would have even glimpsed it without your deeply beautiful stories. You have spun an entire universe unlike any other, rich with history and backstory that resonates with every new chapter of your Miley's and Lilly's lives. And in that universe, your Amissverse, you give us a Miley and Lilly that share a bond that no other characters can ever even fathom, let alone experience. They're mortal, flawed, selfish and utterly realistic, and because of that we are able to relate to them in ways that are not only empathic but darn near spiritual. And I love them for that. For them, what has been lost has somehow made them even more in love than they were before, and you deserve the deepest praise for that.

To **DataAndrd**, you come up with different spins on Miley and Lilly so often that it amazes me. My personal favorite version of your Miley and Lilly is in your "Two Hearts" story, and the simple, sweet, honest love in it brings tears to my eyes whenever I visit them. Please keep that story going for a long, long time.

To **Initiate Six**, you're one of the newest writers to join the Liley community, but you bring a true talent that shines in your stories. You also possess a love of Miley and Lilly that permeates your stories that you've shared with us so far, and that love gives them a weight that suggests the best is yet to come from you and your vision of Miley and Lilly. I look forward to what is yet to come from you, and I'm honored that my stories resonate with you.

I have to say to **coffeeandcommunity**, I'm really glad you've enjoyed this story. You've really hit the nail on the head with your analysis of the powerful love between the two of them. For me, the love that courses between Miley and Lilly is the single most important part of them and their relationship, and I think it would only be natural for that love to be the main motivation for most things they do. You've also recognized the two distinct classes of Opry members and described them eloquently. For Hannah, her respect and love for the Opry is genuine, and so is her commitment to helping others. And for Lilly, she might have never heard of the Opry before, but she's going to immediately love and respect it simply because Miley does.

And to all my other readers, thank you for reading along and giving me your feedback on my stories. I hope to keep entertaining you with stories about Miley and Lilly for a long time.

_Please see chapter 1 for my Standard Disclaimers!_ If you'd like a refresher on Miley's family in Tennessee, please take a look at the Tennessee Cast of Characters at the beginning of Chapter 21.

**This Is Our Life **

by Jo P.

Chapter 25: A Drop in the Ocean

_Take these shoes_

_Click-clacking down some dead-end street_

_Take these shoes and make them fit_

_Take this shirt_

_Polyester white trash made in nowhere_

_Take this shirt and make it clean_

_Take this soul_

_Stranded in some skin and bones_

_Take this soul and make it sing_

-U2; "Yahweh"

"Go 'way!" yelled Miley, more than a bit rudely. But the annoying knocking at the door of her and Lilly's hotel room started again. She was lying on her stomach with her face snugly against Lilly's, their noses nearly touching in their tight embrace. Miley used her free left arm to grope behind Lilly, finally feeling a weighty pillow beneath her fingers. She smiled as she gripped the pillow and then flung it with a backhanded throwing motion at the door. However, since she didn't turn her head or really even open her eyes, she had no way of seeing the makeshift missile flop to the ground about ten feet away, well short of the door. Instead Miley just imagined the pillow smacking soundly against the door, frightening away whomever was disturbing her and her wife's cuddle time.

The beep of the electronic lock followed immediately by the clicking of the door latch turning dissipated that fantasy like so much smoke, sadly. "HEY!" yelled Miley, this time louder, as she pulled the covers up to cover both her and her wife and rolled over to look at whomever it was that had just come into their room. Only one other person had a key, so Miley knew who it had to be. "_Roxy!_ We're still in bed, and we're naked!"

"Don't you worry your pretty heads about that, Roxy won't see a thing! Just comin' in to make sure you two are up and to get your shower started."

Before Miley could say anything else she felt Lilly roll over underneath her, and the feeling of her wife's breasts brushing against her chest immediately tore her attention away from their bodyguard's actions in the bathroom. "Good mornin'," Miley said tenderly as she looked down at Lilly, still wearing Lola's orange wig.

"Mmmm, morning," said Lilly with a smile on her face. She reached up and gently took a lock of Hannah's long, straight blonde hair and began working it between her fingers. "We did tell her to make sure we were up early this morning, remember?" Lilly said quietly. "So we could eat and get back on the road first thing?"

Miley looked over at the foyer to the bathroom. She had totally forgotten about that, and it had even been her idea to get an early start. As wonderful as last night had been—in many ways—Miley wanted Lilly to herself for the rest of their vacation, and that meant getting back to Misty Hollow and being themselves again.

"Shower's nice and warm for you two lovebirds!" called out Roxy as she hustled back to the door. "I'll be back in twenty minutes, so you ladies better hurry up."

"Hey Roxy!" Miley said in reply. She didn't look at her bodyguard, but she hadn't heard the door to the suite close yet, so she knew Roxy was still there. Miley looked back down at Lilly, who winked and gave her a cute grin that made Miley's heart do a little flip in her chest. Now Miley turned to look at Roxy, and then she said, "Better make it thirty minutes." Roxy rolled her eyes but didn't argue, and as her bodyguard walked out the door Hannah turned her attention once again to the very attractive orange-haired actress lying beneath her.

"So what are we going to do with those extra ten minutes?" Lola asked, her cocky smirk firmly in place.

Hannah could feel her lover's hands glide down her sides until they reached her hips, where they firmly gripped her pelvis and held her tightly. "We can do a lot in ten minutes," she said, her voice quavering as Lola's fingers delicately traced their way around her body, one onto her belly and the other onto her lower back.

Lola lifted her head up to kiss her rock star wife, who leaned down to meet her with a kiss. As they pulled their faces apart after several seconds, Lola whispered, "Show me," which Hannah was more than happy to do.

As the airplane powered its frame off and away from the runway racing underneath it, Luanne again checked her cellphone before turning it off. _This is crazy. I mean, even for me. Well, for the real me, not the sociopathic mess I was for so long._ But crazy or not, she couldn't help but smile.

Her flight from Knoxville was leaving on time, but the long layover in Memphis meant that she wouldn't be landing in Los Angeles until after 1 pm California time, but that was okay. This was the best she had been able to do on short notice, and she was okay with that. Plus the layover gave her some time to try and make some more arrangements before she got there, assuming she could find some decent Wi-Fi in the Memphis airport. _Yeah, this is crazy. But oh man, is it gonna be fun_.

She still felt a bit guilty about not telling Miley or Lilly where she was going, but she was going to. Once the plane landed in California, of course. She smiled as she settled her head back against the seat rest and turned on her powder blue Samsung MP3 player. When the first track came up with her sister's song "When I'm With You," she grinned even more broadly. _Sometimes this world is just plain crazy as hell, and sometimes that just makes it even better._

"Mamaw! We're back!" yelled Miley as she opened the door to let Lilly and her rather large suitcase through the door first. "Oh my gosh, that smells _so_ good," Miley added as the aroma of fresh-baked cornbread danced around her nose. It was just after noon, and thoughts of lunch had been dancing through the girls' heads for the last hour on the road.

"Mmmm," Lilly said in agreement, closing her eyes and sniffing deeply. "We have _got_ to have her teach us how to make cornbread just like hers." Lilly heard a thump as Miley dropped her suitcase, then she felt Miley wrap her arms around her stomach. Lilly turned around, pleased and slightly turned on by the unexpected gesture of affection. As she looked into Miley's bright blue eyes, staring deeply into her own, Lilly couldn't help but smile. "What?"

Miley grinned and said, "If you learn to cook cornbread like Mamaw does, I think you'll be the perfect wife." She lightly kissed Lilly on the forehead and added softly, "Because you're already the sexiest woman I could ever imagine." Lilly smiled and lightly squirmed from the compliment, but Miley wasn't letting her go. Instead she placed another gentle kiss on her wife, this time on Lilly's nose. "And the most loving and caring woman I've ever known."

Lilly stopped squirming and instead settled into Miley's embrace. She tilted her head slightly to look into her best friend's sapphire eyes and said, "Thank you. And you know I feel exactly the same way about you, don't you?"

Miley's eyes sparkled as she smiled and softly said, "Yeah, I sure do." She closed her eyes and rested her head against Lilly's as she said, "We've got it pretty good, don't we?"

"The best," Lilly answered, her own eyes closed as she hugged Miley back. "The best anyone ever could have."

Ruthie came back into the main part of the living room, passing through it briefly as she continued on into the kitchen. "Well, hey there, doodlebugs," she said pleasantly as she hurried back over to the stove. "How was your trip to Nashville?"

Miley and Lilly let each other go so they could hurry into the kitchen. "Oh Mamaw, it was SO good!" Miley said excitedly. "We got to see the shelter that Hannah and Lola's foundation rebuilt, and it was amazing to see how many kids they've helped!"

Lilly nodded as she hopped up onto the counter, turning to face Miley and Ruthie. "Getting a chance to meet those boys and girls, I mean... It was really..." She turned to look at Miley. "Help me out here, Miles. What's the word for it?"

Miley squinted briefly, then she offered, "Uplifting?"

"Yeah! Uplifting!" Lilly beamed at her girlfriend. "That's exactly the word I was looking for." A single beep on Miley's phone drew both girls' attention. "Who's that?" Lilly asked curiously.

Miley pulled her phone out of the pocket of her shorts. "Wasn't expectin' anybody to call," she said as she opened her phone and looked at the message. As she did, her eyes got huge. She looked up to Lilly, then she covertly pointed to their bedroom.

"We're gonna go take a quick nap, Mamaw," Lilly said. "Couldn't sleep on the road." Miley had a firm grip on Lilly's right hand and was tugging her down the hall. "Oh, and once we wake up, we'll tell you what Robbie Ray's big surprise was!"

Miley turned and gave Lilly one last sharp tug, yanking her cleanly into the bedroom before she closed the door.

"Ow, Miley!" Lilly said, cradling her right wrist as she carefully flexed it. "That hurt!" Miley still hadn't spoken, and the look on her face was still one of surprise. Lilly felt her own heart skip a single beat in sympathy with her partner's concern. "What is it, sweetie?" she said as she sat down on the bed.

Without a word, Miley handed her phone to Lilly so she could read the text message.

_M+L_

_flew to malibu to see ron_

_really had to talk 2 him _

_b back early am_

_cover 4 me if u can_

_yeah Im crazy_

_but u still luv me_

_luv u both_

_Lu_

"Holy cow," Lilly said softly. "That must be some kind of talk she's got in mind."

"Yeah," Miley said, just as quietly. "I can only think of a few things important enough that she'd have to tell him face to face."

Lilly instantly looked up at Miley. "She wouldn't tell him about us, Miley. Not about Hannah and Lola. She'd leave that for us to tell him, when and if we felt he was ready to hear it."

Miley nodded her head as she sat down beside Lilly on the bed, then she stretched out across the bed sideways. "I agree with you there," she said as she stared at the ceiling. "So that leaves two things that I can think of. What she went through growin' up... and how she's _really_ related to me."

Lilly considered that as she turned and assumed a prone position on the bed parallel to her wife. "There's another possibility, Miles." As Miley turned her head to look at her, Lilly said, "She might be ready." Seeing Miley's lack of comprehension, Lilly waved her hand in the air as she added, "You know, _ready_. To be with him."

Now understanding spread across Miley's face. "Ohhh, I hadn't thought of that," she said. "I mean, for us it was just—"

"As natural as breathing?" Lilly helpfully added, with a smirk on her face. "I agree, it was. Because we were already so close that all we _hadn't_ done with each other was kiss and make love, and once we kissed, well, that only left one thing."

Miley raised an eyebrow as she added, "One really, really good thing."

"One amazing thing," Lilly agreed as she leaned over and kissed Miley tenderly. "And for us there was no sane reason to wait, not once we had kissed. That was how I told you that I loved you, and it was how you told me that you loved me too, and we had both waited so long to build up the nerve to take that step. Once I knew that you loved me too, there was no way I was gonna let another minute pass without me giving everything I had to you."

"You took the words right outta my mouth, Lilly Bear," Miley said as she reached up to take Lilly's hand. "As soon as you kissed me, you answered every question that had been floating through my mind for months. I knew then that we were gonna be together for the rest of our lives." She shifted to lie closer to Lilly, and they kissed again, this time a bit longer. "But Lu has had so much more to work through than what we did. I think it's been really smart for her and Ron to wait."

"I just hope they don't rush into things," Lilly said, and Miley could detect the note of sisterly concern in her voice.

"Lilly," Miley said, with a hint of humor in her voice. "We saw them together in our dream. They were married and had a son, and they were happy. Somehow I don't think they're gonna be makin' a mistake here."

"Maybe not, but they're the only ones who know when the right time for them is, Miles. And they shouldn't rush things until they're ready. That's where we were so far ahead of all the other couples we know. We were _ready_. We were totally sure about each other, and we knew that we wanted to be with each other from then on. They might still be figuring that out."

Miley smiled as she ran her fingertips over Lilly's cheek, watching her lover's eyes flutter closed in happy response. "You're beautiful _and_ you're smart," she said proudly.

"Smart enough to hang on to you," Lilly added with a faint smirk.

"Eventually. After how many boyfriends on our parts?"

"Too many!" Lilly giggled as she gave into the desire building up deep inside her chest and wrapped both her arms around Miley. She pulled her wife closer, closer, until she could feel their hearts beat together, always in tune somehow. "They're playing our song," she whispered to Miley, who giggled at the private joke between them before Lilly's mouth on hers cut off any further action except kissing and being kissed.

In actions that had become reflex to them long ago, the two young women shed their clothes without truly breaking their heated embrace, managing to get the covers turned down on the bed to reveal the soft, cool sheets underneath. Lilly gasped as Miley began to work her way down her wife's body, leaving chills along her mouth's path. "How..." gasped Lilly, "...how can I love you more... each time we make love?"

Miley paused and crawled back up along Lilly's body to hover directly over her face. "The same way I love you more each time I touch you," she said tenderly.

Lilly smiled up at Miley, then she put her hands on Miley's shoulders and pushed her back down her body. "Now get back down there, woman, and finish what you've started!" she growled firmly, twisting on the bed to bring her hips up to meet Miley's lips and tongue.

Miley grinned as she did what her wife said. "Yes ma'am," were the last coherent words spoken for many minutes in the bedroom.

Some time later, a soft knocking at the bedroom door stirred Miley from sleep. "Aunt Miley?" said a soft voice from the vicinity of the door.

Miley's eyes blinked open as she looked at the two not-so-small faces of Peyton and Melody Burns, Miley's second cousins, looking quite pointedly at how closely she and Lilly were holding each other in the bed. They did have a sheet and thin blanket pulled up to their shoulders, but the way Lilly's head was resting on Miley's left shoulder as well as how her left arm was draped across Miley's chest and her fingers tangled in Miley's long, dark hair in a possessive display left little doubt as to how intimately the two young women held each other. _I thought we had locked that door!_ But as Miley looked at the faces of the ten- and nine-year-old girls standing next to the bed, she noticed that they didn't appear shocked in the least. In fact, it looked like they were... _grinning_.

"You two little varmits make a habit of sneakin' into other peoples' rooms?" Miley said, giving both young girls a wary look combined with a raised eyebrow. Long ago she had consciously decided to never be embarrassed at loving Lilly, no matter what, and she wasn't close to embarrassed now. She and Lilly maintained their modesty, certainly, but by now all of her family was aware that she and Lilly were married, including her young cousins.

"Just our aunts," countered Melody, with her own quite passable version of the Stewart raised eyebrow. "You not takin' us into town today?"

"Course we're taking you two into town," mumbled Lilly sleepily against Miley's chest. She lifted her head up, gave the girls a long glance that screamed _Nice try_, and then smiled as she found Miley's lips and tenderly kissed her.

"EWW!!" Peyton and Melody both uttered at the same time. "Grown-ups kissing! Yuck!" added Peyton.

Lilly smiled pleasantly at the girls and said, "Sorry girls, but that's what you do when you fall completely in love with somebody special."

"_After_ you get married," Miley added hastily. She certainly didn't want her Mamaw blaming her or Lilly when either of Mamaw's current "little angels" inevitably discovered boys. Or girls. "Now scootie your little booties outta this room, so we can get up and get dressed!"

"C'mon sissie," said Peyton to her little sister. "Let's give Aunt Miley and Aunt Lilly some _pri-va-cy_," stressing each syllable of the last word as if it were something naughty. The two of them giggled as they hustled out of the room, loudly slamming the door behind them.

Immediately after the door had closed, Miley and Lilly erupted in laughter, clutching each other tightly as they shook the bed with their laughing. "They are so adorable!" squealed Lilly. "I swear, they both have attitudes exactly like yours!"

Miley ran her hand over her face, trying to still her shaking. "I think they've picked up some a' that sassiness from you too, hon," she managed to get out. "But it's just as cute in them as it is in you."

"Aww, nice save, Mrs. Truscott," Lilly said as she pushed Miley to the edge of the bed. "But we need to get up. We need to get ready, because we did promise we'd take them shopping and to get their hair done today."

On the other side of the country, Luanne used her key to unlock the front door at Miley's and Lilly's house. They had given her the key only a few months ago, and this was the first time she had ever used it. But she needed to think for a bit, and the silence of the house was a good place to rebuild her composure. She was nervous, incredibly nervous, but excited nonetheless. The more she thought about things, the more she knew this was the next step she had to take in her relationship with Ron, and she wasn't going to put it off any longer.

She pulled her phone out and checked her messages. Miley had sent a text message back, telling Luanne that she and Lilly would do what they could to cover for her, which is what Luanne had hoped for. Tomorrow she could deal with the fallout of her taking off on the spur of the moment, but she had reserved today for a different purpose. She scrolled down her list of numbers, hitting dial when she came to the one for Ron's house. "Meredith?" she asked when a female voice answered. "This is Luanne. Hey." She paused, then she said, "Well, I'm in town, actually. I came out to talk to Ron today, but would you mind if I came over there and talked to you for a bit until he gets home from work?" She smiled at Meredith Truscott's happy affirmative reply, then she said, "Okay, great! Is a few minutes okay for me to come on over?"

By the time Miley, Lilly, Peyton and Melody left West Town Mall in Knoxville, all four girls were shopped out. After taking the little girls to get their hair done, they had met up with Kaela Stewart, Jackson's wife, and hit the town of Knoxville. Lilly had found several outfits for Lola at a store called Wet Seal, although her vision of what the outfits could be didn't quite match what the store's salespeople had in mind. The youngest girls in the Stewart clan were in seventh heaven by the time they left the mall, and both of them had a few shopping bags with things that had been picked out for them by their "aunts."

"So is Jackson bringing the stuff for camping straight to Mamaw's?" asked Miley as they made their way to the rental car. She and Lilly were taking Peyton and Melody camping in the woods behind Ruthie's house later that evening, and Kaela had offered to join them. Jackson wasn't as keen on camping, but he had gamely agreed.

"Yep," Kaela said, her red hair bobbing neatly as she nodded. It had grown as long as it had been before, falling nearly as long as Miley's own chestnut brown hair although not as thick as her sister-in-law's. "I told him I had a surprise for him, and I wasn't going to tell him unless he came along with us."

"Nice," said Miley, the tone of her voice clearly indicating her approval. "So when are you two gonna get around to startin' a family?" Lilly smacked Miley's shoulder almost instantly. "Ow!"

"Nosy," said Lilly bluntly. "I think that's up to them, don't you think?"

"Actually," Kaela said with a twinkle in her eyes, "I was just about to ask you two the same thing."

Everyone stopped, with Miley looking back and forth between Lilly and Kaela. "What?" asked Lilly as she noticed Miley observing them.

"Oh, I was just wantin' to see if you were gonna smack her like you did me." Miley smiled sweetly as she finished, and that most likely saved her from another playful swat.

Lilly smiled and pleasantly said, "No, honey, I just do that for you." She turned to Kaela and said, "For Kae I'll just put rocks in her shoes while she's asleep tonight."

The little girls giggled at the light-hearted threats passing in front of them, and they secretly made notes for future prank material. Being around their "aunts" was enlightening in more ways than one.

"No, I'm serious!" said Kaela, stopping the little girls' laughter. "I mean, come on! You two are so much in love that it makes me feel inadequate!" Her smile crept back out as she added, "I couldn't imagine any better mothers than you two would be."

"Well, you know how crazy our lives can get, Kaela," Miley said hesitantly. Peyton and Melody didn't know about the Hannah and Lola secret and probably never would.

"And we're starting college in a few months, too," said Lilly. But then she looked warmly at the love of her life and took her hand. "But I swear that one day I _will_ have this woman's baby. I promise you that."

The honest love in her best friend's words made Miley's eyes water. "Not before I have yours," she said, her mouth dry. "You remember that, woman. I get to have your baby first, then you can have mine."

"I remember, Miles," Lilly said, squeezing her best friend's hand. "And we've started the ball rolling on that, Kae. It's just going to take a long time, I bet."

Hearing the sadness in Lilly's voice, Miley turned to look directly into her eyes. "Hey," she said. "We knew it was going to take a while, sweetheart. In the meantime, we're going to enjoy our time together with it just being the two of us." She smiled, and that coaxed a smile back onto Lilly's face. "I think we can keep ourselves busy for a few years, huh?"

Lilly's smile grew brighter and brighter as she thought about all that lay ahead for them in their lives together. "Yeah, I think we can manage that, Miles," she said.

"How are you two going to have babies?" asked Peyton. "Don't you need a mommy and a daddy for that?"

"We're working on that, Peyton," Miley said, looking down at her little cousin. "Out in California they're doing research to help us make our babies. It's gonna take a long time, but I'm not settling for anything less than carrying this woman's baby," she said, pulling Lilly close for a kiss on the cheek. "No sperm donors for us!"

"What's a sperm donor?" asked Melody, carefully sounding out the funny phrase.

Miley's face assumed a shade of white that Lilly had only seen on rare occasions, and she couldn't help but laugh. "Glad I'm not gonna have to explain _that_ one to her parents!" she said gleefully.

"Um, let's just forget that your Aunt Miley said that, okay?" Miley asked her nine-year-old cousin. "We can talk about it when you're a bit older." Seeing the lack of agreement on Melody's face, Miley leaned forward and cheerfully said, "And if that's not good enough, then I can roll you up in your sleeping bag tonight and toss you into the creek."

"You better not!" said Melody, but Miley was unmoved.

"We're not going to get each other into trouble now, are we?" Miley asked in that same sweet voice.

"No," pouted Melody, knowing when she was beaten.

"Good girl," said Miley, patting Melody on the head. "Now we need to head back to Mamaw's because she wanted us back before six for some reason."

As they climbed into the car, Lilly asked, "Did you girls bring your tent for tonight?"

"No," said Peyton. "We're staying in your tent. You have the air mattress!"

"Um..." Lilly mumbled softly. She had some plans for Miley tonight, and they didn't involve having Peyton and Melody in the tent with them.

"I already have a surprise for Jackson tonight, so don't even think about it!" said Kaela. With a smirk she added, "Plus the girls like hanging out with you two more, anyway." That was true; ever since that first Christmas Lilly had spent with the Stewart family, all the younger Stewarts had adored the playful, outgoing blonde tomboy. The subsequent years had only solidified that adoration, particularly with Peyton and Melody, who readily looked up to the young women as positive role models who embodied the virtues of love and compassion.

After dropping Kaela off at her car, the remaining four girls made a beeline for Misty Hollow, making it back just before six o'clock. As they carried their bags inside, Miley saw that Ruthie was apparently waiting for them.

"Lord have mercy, ya'll leave anything left at the stores for other people to buy?" she said loudly as Peyton and Melody rushed past her to deposit their items in their own bedroom that Mamaw kept for the great-grandchildren. She grinned at the effect having Miley and Lilly around seemed to have on everyone, particularly those two little girls who could use more good role models closer to their age than their parents. Ruthie walked over to Miley and patted her on the cheek. "I'm proud of you, little Miley," she said. "And I'm proud of your little Lilly, too." She opened her arms to hug both young women, squeezing them tightly once she had them in her grasp. "Now, you two need to put those bags up and head up to the church. There's a business meetin' tonight, and this is as good a time as any for everybody up there to meet you two as a couple."

"The church?" Miley and Lilly asked simultaneously. "Mamaw," added Miley with a plaintive tone in her voice, "don't you think that might be pushin' our luck just a little bit? And why the heck would we want to go to a business meetin', anyway? Those things are just plain boring!"

"I think your wife has somethin' she's wantin' to take care of," Ruthie said. "And while I know she wanted it to be a surprise, I think she should fill you in now." As Miley turned to look at Lilly, her thoughts racing, Ruthie moved out of the living room. "I'll go take a look at what those little heathens picked up, so's you two can have some privacy for a bit."

"Thanks, Mamaw," Lilly said quietly. She looked into Miley's eyes and saw questions written deep in those beautiful blue eyes she loved so much. "C'mere," she said, guiding Miley over to the sofa where they sat, Miley practically in Lilly's lap. "I..." she started, then had to stop. "I might cry telling you this, so don't freak out, okay? It's nothing bad, I swear."

"Okay," said Miley, taking Lilly's hands. "What is it, Lil?" She truthfully had no idea what Lilly wanted to do that would involve the church. They were already married, twice no less, so they didn't need a ceremony performed here. All her family already knew they were married, but the rest of the Hollow didn't, so maybe Lilly wanted to announce it to everyone. If that was the case, then of course Miley was willing to do it, but the church might not be the best—

"I'm going to buy six plots in the cemetery for our family," Lilly blurted out suddenly. "Next to your mom and your family plot. That way we can be buried there when we die, and we'll have space for our children and their husbands or wives." Lilly looked into Miley's eyes for any sign of emotion, but all she was seeing was total, utter surprise. "Miley, I know we try to make big decisions together, but I _know_ that this is where you need to be buried, with your family, and I'm going to be buried with you no matter where it is. I wanted this to be a surprise, but maybe I should have told you about it when I first thought of it a few days ago. I had talked to Ruthie about it, and she had told me that she'd talk to somebody on the church's cemetery committee, and then—" Lilly's words were cut off by Miley surging forward and pushing Lilly backward onto the couch. Miley pinned Lilly down and kissed her deeply, pressing their lips together with enough intensity that Lilly could hear the blood rushing through her head. Lilly could feel hot tears drip onto her cheeks, and she knew those tears weren't her own, not yet.

"You are the best thing that has ever come into my life," Miley whispered as she let Lilly catch her breath. "And I love you so much more every day that we have together. Nobody else would ever have thought of something like this. Nobody but you." Miley blinked a few more tears out of her eyes, then she smiled down at the woman she would spend the rest of eternity with. "I love you, Lillian Jessica Truscott. Thank you for everything you do for me. For _us_."

"You're welcome, Miley May Truscott," Lilly said in reply as she reached up and ran her fingers through her wife's luxuriant mane of chestnut brown hair, falling around her head like a protective canopy and making it seem as if only the two of them existed at that moment. "And I love you too."

A knock at the door broke the spell that held both Miley and Lilly fast. "Hang on!" Miley called out after she tilted her head up so that she wouldn't be yelling into Lilly's face, but Lilly took advantage of her lifting her head to take a strand of Miley's hair and tickle her lover under the chin. "Lilly!" Miley squealed, tossing about on the couch as she heard the front door open. Miley rolled off of Lilly and onto her side, letting both girls see Miley's aunt Vicky step inside.

Of Miley's family, Vicky had given Miley and Lilly the most initial hostility about their relationship, but she had slowly warmed to the bond between the two young women. She had no doubt as to the devotion the two of them had for each other, but what had truly shifted her from tolerance of their relationship to tacit approval had been the effect the two of them had wrought on her own granddaughters, Peyton and Melody. The generation gap between Vicky and her grandchildren was brutal at times, and when Peyton had turned eight she had entered a turbulent period that saw her behavior both at school and at home worsen dramatically. Naturally, Melody had begun to follow her big sister's lead, giving their parents and grandmother twice the grief. It wasn't until Christmas of that year that things had begun to look up, and to Vicky's initial shock it was Miley and Lilly who were able to spend enough time with the two young girls to turn their behavior around.

From that Christmas on, Peyton and Melody had commissioned Miley and Lilly as their "aunts," and the older girls had happily accepted the responsibility of being role models and confidantes for their "nieces." As would be expected, Vicky's concern about such a mentoring relationship was that somehow Miley and Lilly would influence her granddaughters toward relationships with other girls rather than boys, but the one time she had brought that concern up, Miley had shut her down quickly.

"_Aunt Vicky, they're growin' up fast enough as it is!"_ Miley had heatedly said. _"They just need some other girls to spend time with that aren't their mom or their grandma. There's lots of things they could learn from Lilly, like how to be brave and be confident in what they do, how to tell the truth and stick up for their friends, and how to care for other people more than they do for themselves. I am so proud of my wonderful wife that I could talk about how terrific she is 'til the cows come home, and still not cover half of what makes her so great. But some of that __stuff they don't need to talk about just yet, because they're just now startin' to grow up, and that's why they're havin' so much trouble. If they want to talk about stuff like boys or girls when they're older, then Lilly and I'll talk to them about it. But right now, they just need some family to look out for 'em, and we're gonna be the best aunts those little girls could ever imagine!"_

It was an irony that as much as Vicky had been concerned about the possible influence of Miley's and Lilly's relationship on her granddaughters, Peyton and Melody seemed oblivious to any difference between Miley and Lilly and any other married couple in the family. They had seen the two older girls together from the very beginning, and that was simply how they had accepted them. Two Christmases ago when they had asked Ruthie why Miley and Lilly shared a bed in their guest room at Christmas, Ruthie had plainly told them because Miley and Lilly were married and were thus expected to sleep in a bed together. That was all the explanation the two young sisters had needed.

By now, after more than three years of her niece Miley being with Lilly, Vicky had learned to expect simple displays of affection between the two young women. It had taken her some time, but she had finally reached a spiritual peace regarding her niece's relationship. Lilly was good to Miley, and Miley was happy when she was with Lilly; as Miley's aunt that was all Vicky could hope for. After all, God had given humanity the ability to love as a blessing; if Miley and Lilly found their true love and happiness in each other, who could say that God was wrong for putting them together?

As she regarded Miley and Lilly lying on the couch together, she said, "Hello Miley, Lilly," as a greeting. She still wasn't as comfortable with their publicly shared intimacy as the other members of the family, but she was trying. "Are my granddaughters around here somewhere?"

"I think they're in their little room with Mamaw," Miley said, turning her attention back to the extremely attractive blonde lying underneath her on the couch. "We kinda bought them some stuff while we were out today."

"You girls are going to spoil them!" Vicky said, acting like she was offended when in truth she most certainly wasn't. She looked back down at the couch to see Miley wrestling with Lilly, playfully trying to pin the California beauty's arms over her head.

"She's just upset because it's her job to spoil them, Miles," Lilly said, laughing. "We're cutting in on her territory."

Miley laughed heartily and turned to look at Vicky right as Lilly took advantage of the opportunity and tossed Miley off of her. However, Lilly misjudged the width of the couch and wound up tumbling off the couch and onto the carpeted floor, pulling Miley off the couch with her as they fell to the floor with a resounding thump.

"Heavens' sake, are you girls alright?" Vicky said as she hustled over to where Miley and Lilly were tangled up on the floor, still laughing.

"Yeah, we're okay," said Miley as she shifted to sit up. However, her tactical position had suffered with the tumble, as Lilly now had both of her arms pinned as she looked coolly into Miley's glittering sapphire blue eyes. "Remember, you love me," Miley said with a pleading voice as Lilly tried to decide just what to do with her wife.

Upon hearing Miley's words, Lilly's expression softened. "Sweetheart, that's one thing I'll never forget," she said before she leaned in and gave Miley a quick kiss on the lips.

In Malibu, Luanne was having afternoon coffee with Meredith Truscott. The two had spent a very enjoyable afternoon together, and Luanne found herself again realizing how fortunate she was to have been given a second chance at life. _I'm not going to screw this one up_, she thought fiercely.

"I must say, Luanne, when I first met you I wasn't sure what to think of you," Meredith said, her eyes suddenly piercing and inquisitive.

"Um, what do you mean by that, Mrs. Truscott?" Luanne asked, all at once on her guard. It remained a deeply ingrained reflex, that sudden defensiveness, and it had an annoying tendency to pop up when Luanne least expected it.

"Well..." Meredith said, hesitantly. "When I first heard Lilly talk about you, she said some fairly unflattering things."

"Like how I was a total bitch?" Luanne offered, smiling. "She was right... then." Her smile faded as she tried to indicate how serious her past had been. "I used to be a really, really mean person, Meredith. I'm not very proud of that. I really don't like to talk about it much at all, but I think... that you need to hear some of this." Luanne felt her emotions start to seethe inside, because she wanted this _so much_, this chance at love with Ron Truscott, and she was horrified that the demons of her past could still wreck it all. But she couldn't sit here and lie to Meredith, not now. Not after what she had steeled herself to do, tonight. "My... mom died while I was being born. And right after that my daddy, Robbie Ray's brother Bobby Ray, started drinking really, really heavy. He never molested me, thank God, but he used to hit me. It started out just hard spankings, then over time it got a lot worse. And I put up with it because he had lost someone special to him, someone he had fallen in love with and wanted to have a family with. I mean, losing her hurt me my whole life, and I had never even known her. How bad was Daddy hurting for losing her?"

Luanne looked over at Meredith, who was silently listening very closely to what the young woman sitting across from her was saying. "I'm not telling you this asking for any sympathy, Meredith. I'm telling you this because it shaped me into what I had become, an angry, spiteful young woman. Someone who resented my family and especially Miley for what she still had, a family that obviously loved her. So I started lashing out at everyone I could. I stole things. I broke things and got other kids blamed for it. I lied. I hit people, and did other things to hurt them. Sometimes I'd get started hitting someone, like this one girl Amy that we grew up with, and I'd feel so _in control_ doing it that I just wouldn't stop, not until—" Now the tears started, and Luanne paused a moment to wipe them away with a paper towel. "I was a monster," she said, struggling not to cry outright. "I was evil. And, oh God, I _HATED_ myself! I hated myself so, so much. I couldn't care less if I lived or died, back then, and I think things would have been better for so many others if I'd just killed myself like I had thought about so many times. But I couldn't, for whatever reason."

Meredith found her mind reeling, trying to believe what she was hearing from this young woman whom she _knew_ was a good, caring person who adored her son. But what Luanne was saying was so diametrically opposite of what she had seen in Luanne's personality and behavior over the last three years that it was hard to accept. "But..." Meredith said, haltingly, "But that's not you, Luanne. That's not the person I know you are."

"No, it's not, thank the good Lord," Luanne said, shaking her head, "but it's who I used to be. That was the Luanne that Lilly met that first time, and then the second time at Christmas. And it was that Christmas that I tried so badly to hurt Miley and Lilly. I was so horrible to them, Meredith, that I honestly hope they never tell you everything that I did to them, because I don't think you'd ever want me back in your house again. But even after all that, they—"

She couldn't hold the emotions back any more, and Luanne finally melted down, collapsing in sobs as she buried her face in her hands. She cried for long minutes, her chest heaving and her head spinning as she sat on the couch. But when the sobs began to fade, she felt herself leaning against someone, someone holding her and pressing a cool washcloth against her forehead. As she opened her eyes, her sight still blurred, she saw Meredith looking at her, her face full of motherly concern and her own eyes red. "I'm sorry," Luanne sniffed. "And thanks."

"You're welcome," said Meredith, still looking quite concerned.

"That Christmas, Miley and Lilly stopped me from killing myself. I had a knife, and I was going to..." Her voice trailed off as she thought back to that cold, dark night in the hayloft of her Mamaw's barn, to when she lifted the knife up to her throat, ready to end the pain and hate for everyone once and for all. But then Lilly, bless her heart, had realized what Luanne planned to do, and she had knocked the knife out of her hand. Then, after Lilly had saved both Luanne's and Miley's lives, she had told them the secret that had saved Luanne's very soul: that she wasn't alone, because she had a twin sister—Miley. That secret had bound the three of them together in a way that Luanne still marveled at. It had given her a family again. It wasn't exactly the family she had always dreamed about, but it was a real family that loved her and forgave her despite everything she had done. And she had finally realized that she didn't need hate to sustain her after all.

"Your daughter stopped me," Luanne said, looking back up at Meredith. "And then she and Miley did the most incredible thing ever. Instead of hating me, they forgave me. They gave me the strength to face my past and deal with this blackness that's been part of me as long as I can remember. They helped me get some treatment, and with several months of therapy and counseling plus finding the right medications, I was able to regain control of my life." Luanne looked back up into Meredith's eyes. _That's where Ron's and Lilly's blue eyes come from. Funny that I never noticed that before._ "You know, Miley and Lilly paid for every bit of my treatment. I tried to pay them back, to work out some way to repay them, but they refused."

"That doesn't surprise me," Meredith said, a wistful smile on her face. "They love you, Luanne. You're their family."

"And they're mine. More than my father, even though we _have_ managed to patch up our relationship some. I still can't set foot inside that house though. The one I grew up in, I mean. Even today it scares the hell out of me just looking at it." Luanne fiddled with what remained of the paper towel she had been using as a makeshift Kleenex. "The reason I'm telling you all this, Meredith, is because I really care about Ron. I'm going to tell him all this tonight, plus some more. And if he decides that my past is too much for him—or for you—then I'll accept that and settle for just being friends with you and him."

"Oh Luanne," Meredith said, reaching across the space between the two of them and taking the younger woman's hand. "Ron adores you. You've accepted him for who he is, for what he enjoys, and you've never tried to change him into anything else."

"Because I love him the way he is," Luanne said, a shy smile on her lips. "And I love how honest he is, with me and with himself. I don't want to hurt him, and I'm so afraid that something in my past is going to jump up and scare him away..." Sensing a need to change the subject, Luanne asked, "Have you ever seen two people any more in love than Miley and Lilly?"

Meredith slowly shook her head. "Never. I've never even heard of two people any more in love than the two of them."

Luanne looked back down. "I want that. Not that powerful a love exactly, because I don't think any of us will ever see that again, but someone who loves me for who I am. Someone who can take my whole screwed-up past, the daily fight I have with that blackness inside my mind, and still somehow care about me. But I don't think that it's fair to ask Ron to feel that way about me. I mean, it'd be saddling him with all the horrible things that I've done, and that's not fair! He's a good man, and he needs someone who's perfect." Luanne looked back up, and the anguish in her expression nearly took Meredith's breath away. "But as selfish as it is, I still love him and want him to love me," Luanne said in a soft voice. "Is it fair to him for me to keep seeing him, Meredith? Do I have the right to be that selfish?"

"I think you need to ask him," Meredith said, and the flicker of her eyes glancing at something behind Luanne sent a surge of panic through Luanne's entire body.

_Oh fuck, no! No no no. Not like this! _ But even as her mind went into a frenzy, Luanne knew she had to face this now. She gathered her composure, something she was quite good at by this time, and said in a louder voice, "How long have you been listening?"

"Long enough," said Ron from the other room. He slowly walked into the living room and sat down next to the young woman he had fallen in love with over the last two years, imperfections and all. "And nothing I've heard has changed how I feel about you." He took Luanne's hands and gently held them as he looked into her blue eyes, a match for Miley's. "I love you, Luanne. Hearing that you've had to deal with so much bad stuff in your life hurts, because you didn't deserve any of it."

"Yes I did, Ron, I—"

"Stop," he said, gently but firmly. "No, you didn't. You couldn't help your mom dying when you were born. You couldn't stop your daddy from drinking. And you were out of control when you were doing all those bad things growing up."

Luanne felt a glimmer of hope begin to flare inside of her chest. "But it doesn't change the fact that I hurt so many people."

"No, it doesn't, but I bet you're going to spend the rest of your life trying to make up for that in some way. Aren't you?"

Luanne nodded, not trusting her voice to speak. Part of her mind was cursing her for being so weak, so helpless in the tempest of her emotions right now, but another part was telling her to shut up and listen, to let him say what she needed to hear—that he loved her regardless. As she listened, she felt the flicker of hope inside her chest grow slowly into a steady flame, a light bright enough to push the shadows that lurked deep in her mind into the furthest corners of her consciousness. And when she realized that this declaration of love for her was no fantasy, no dream ready to fade upon waking, she felt the thoughts of self-loathing and worthlessness, the last fetters holding her precious spirit in chains, finally yield.

She looked into Ron's eyes, and now she didn't feel unworthy when she told him, "I love you."

"I love you too, Luanne," he replied, but something in his eyes told her that there was more that he wanted to say.

"You want to go for a walk down the beach?" Luanne asked. "I haven't even peeked at the ocean since I got here." He nodded, and the two of them carefully stood, hovering next to each other.

"When are you flying back, Luanne?" asked Meredith.

"Probably early in the morning," Luanne said, noticing that Meredith froze in place, obviously staring at her. "Yeah, I know, it was crazy and expensive to fly out here then turn around and fly back the next day, but I just felt like I needed to talk to Ron. I had some money saved up that I been saving for emergencies, and this qualified." She reached back and took her boyfriend's hand. "You ready for a walk, big boy?" she asked with a smug grin. Ron's idea of a walk was from the house to his car, but he gamely smiled and nodded his head.

Back in Tennessee, Miley and Lilly had just dropped Peyton and Melody off at their house, saying a quick hello and goodbye to the girls' parents before getting back into the car and heading to the church in Misty Hollow.

"I'm still pretty nervous, Miles," Lilly said, reaching over to take Miley's right hand.

"It'll be okay, Lilly," Miley said optimistically. "I mean, the worst that can happen is if they say no to us buying those plots, right?"

Lilly looked at Miley, her face uncertain. "And stir up all kinds of trouble for you and your family because of us being together."

Miley spared a quick glance for her wife. "Oh, please," she said dismissively. "Nobody's gonna stir up any kind of trouble for my family or for me because of us, sweetheart. My family won't take any of it, and neither will I. If it gets really ugly, then we'll just get up and walk out."

Lilly hesitated for a second or two before cautiously saying, "No, we won't."

"What?" Miley asked, definitely not expecting that reply.

"I said, we won't just get up and walk out if things go bad," Lilly said, her voice gaining determination as she went. "This means a lot to me, and I know it means a lot to you, even if you don't want to admit it. We're not going to just give up and walk away if there's some people against us being buried there. That is your family plot, Miley, in that cemetery, and so help me we _ARE_ going to be buried there so you can be with your mother and father when it's our time to die!"

There was silence in the car for a moment, then Miley said, "You know, you're really cute when you get angry."

"Stop that," Lilly said, trying to stay worked up but sputtering with laughter before she could get the two simple words out of her mouth. "You suck," she finally said amongst laughs and giggles.

"Only for you, sweetheart," Miley replied, giggling herself. "And for that church's sake, I hope they don't put up too much of a fight tonight. Don't think they're ready for you."

Lilly smiled and leaned back in her seat. "Like you said, don't get between a wildcat and her family," Lilly said smugly, shaping her hand into a makeshift claw and swiping at the air in front of her.

As they pulled into the parking lot of Misty Hollow Church, Lilly noted that there was no one milling around outside. "They already start?" she asked Miley as they got out of the car.

"Yeah, nobody much likes business meetings, so they always start on time and hurry to get done."

"Makes sense," Lilly said. She looked down at her shorts and wondered yet again if they weren't dressed a bit too casually. "You sure we're dressed okay? I mean, don't they have something about making women wear dresses or something?"

Miley looked at Lilly like she'd grown wings. "Pretty little wife of mine say what?" she said. "Lilly, first, this is a business meeting, not a church service. Heck, some of the church officers'll be wearin' shorts! Second, there _are_ some churches where they don't let women wear pants or shorts, but this ain't one of 'em. We'll be fine."

"Okay..." Lilly said as they reached the door. "Can I even hold your hand in there?" she asked, and the faint pleading that Miley could detect in her wife's voice clutched at her heart.

Miley turned to look at Lilly, and now she could see that even as determined as Lilly was, she was scared. Scared of how people were going react to Miley's relationship. Scared of how they were going to be treated. Lilly wouldn't be scared for herself, Miley knew that. She'd be scared for _Miley_. "Sweetheart," Miley said tenderly, opening her arms to hold her best friend tightly, "if you wanted to kiss me right in the middle of that church, I'd pucker up for you without battin' an eye. It might not be the best idea if we're gonna be askin' them for somethin', but I'd do it without any regrets."

Lilly smiled as she looked into Miley's bright blue eyes. "I'll settle for holding your hand," she said.

"Okay." Miley opened the door, letting Lilly step in first, then she followed her wife and closed the door behind them. Lilly crossed the entry foyer and paused at the large door to the main church auditorium. It was bigger than it had looked from outside, but Lilly doubted the room could hold much over two hundred people, even packing them in tightly. Still, the turnout for the business meeting looked sparse, with maybe thirty or forty people present. "Aunt Dolly's up there," Miley said, pointing ahead of them to a pew on the left side of the auditorium. "Want to sit with her?"

Lilly nodded. It might be good to have some friendly support tonight. She quietly walked forward, trying not to notice the eyes shifting to regard these two new people in their midst. When she reached the pew with Dolly Lilly tried to duck in, but as soon as Dolly saw her she moved further in, letting Lilly sit beside her and then Miley sit at the end next to Lilly.

"Hey Lilly girl," Dolly said cheerily, her voice low. "Momma said you two might need to see a friendly face tonight."

"Thanks," Lilly said, meaning every bit of it. "Is she coming?"

"Oh, Mamaw don't like to come to business meetin's any more. The church kinda feels the same way, ever since that whole business meetin' after the Easter egg hunt a few years back, and what she did to poor old Doyle Flagler."

Lilly turned to Miley, but Miley just mouthed _Don't ask_ to her. Lilly nodded and let it go.

Just as it had been portrayed, the business meeting was rather boring. It seemed to consist of different church officers and committees reporting attendance numbers, income and expenses, and other equally uninteresting items as far as Lilly was concerned. However, when the topic of new business was brought up, Lilly felt Miley sit up a bit straighter and take her hand. Lilly likewise sat up straight and began to listen as an older man on the other side of the church stood up and began to speak.

"Brother moderator, the cemetery committee has some new business to bring before the church," the tall, thin man said in a drawl significantly more pronounced than Miley's.

"Go ahead, Norman," said the preacher, who was serving as the moderator for the business meeting. Miley had told Lilly on the drive to the church that this particular preacher, Frederick O'Neal, had been at the church for nearly thirty years; he had even been the one to marry Miley's parents in this very church. He had some difficulties with his eyesight over the last few years, becoming essentially blind but continuing to preach thanks to his extensive knowledge of the Bible and thorough theological background.

"Preacher Fred looks like he's lookin' at people," Miley whispered to Dolly, leaning across Lilly's body close enough for Lilly to feel the comfort of her body heat.

"He is," Dolly whispered back. "He had some kind a' experimental eye surgery a while back and got a bunch a' his eyesight back. He's been happy as a bug in a rug ever since."

"Well, the cemetery committee has been contacted by a young lady who's interested in purchasing six plots in the cemetery," the man referred to as Norman continued, oblivious to the whispers from Miley and Dolly on the other side of the church. "Six specific plots." Norman thought for a moment, apparently choosing his words carefully, then he continued, "She's married into the Stewart family, and she wants to make sure that their family'll be located next to where Brooke and Robbie Ray's plot is."

"Is there enough room in the cemetery where she's askin' for?" asked the preacher.

"Yep, there's a _powerful_ sight of open space in that part of the cemetery. You know, over there where Brooke Stewart's buried, there's hardly anybody with plots that far out, so it's wide open."

A woman in the pews about halfway back raised her hand. When she was recognized by the moderator, she asked, "What's the goin' price for cemetery plots now?"

Norman turned to look at her and nonchalantly said, "Five thousand for a single plot, eight for a double, and fifteen for four. For six, oh, I reckon we'd ask twenty-two or twenty-three for all a' them."

"And she's alright with that amount?" asked the preacher.

"Well, to be right honest about it, I hadn't had the chance to talk to the young lady about it herself, but she's supposed to be here tonight, so I suppose she could answer for herself."

"Is this young lady present tonight?" asked Preacher O'Neal. "What's her name?"

Lilly felt Miley squeeze her hand in support, then she stood up. "Lilly Truscott, and yes, I'm here tonight."

"Well, aren't you a pretty little thing!" said the preacher with a broad grin, and Lilly could tell by the tone in his voice that he meant it as an honest compliment.

"Thanks," Lilly said shyly. "The price for the plots is fine with me. Twenty-three thousand for six of them together next to Mrs. Stewart and the rest of the Stewart family plot is great. I could write a personal check tonight or have the money wired into the church's account tomorrow if you'd feel more comfortable doing that."

"Is the Stewart family comfortable with you buying these plots next to them, young lady?" asked the preacher. "I'd sure assume they are, with you marryin' into the family an' all, but—"

Lilly opened her mouth to say yes, but the cemetery committee chairman spoke before she could. "They're just fine with it, preacher; I spoke with Ruthie and Robbie Ray both this week, and they both said they'd rather have Miss Lilly here buy those plots than anybody else they could think of."

Lilly couldn't help but smile at the sound of this. Ruthie had definitely come through, just like she had told Lilly she would. That woman knew how to get things done, even if sometimes she had to step on a few toes along the way. Lilly was so happy that she didn't even bother to correct being incorrectly addressed as "Miss" rather than as "Mrs."

But then a new voice, a woman's voice, came from the rear of the church. "I think some of the church members are going to have a real problem with her being buried in the church cemetery, Brother O'Neal," the woman said in a rather nasal voice.

Lilly felt her heart sink instantly to her stomach, and when she turned around to look at the woman it felt like it fell even further, from her stomach down to the floor. Sitting next to the woman now standing up and talking was none other than Kristy. As Lilly looked at the two of them, she saw a smug little smirk spread across Kristy's face, and she suddenly felt like she was going to throw up.

"Why's that, Nelda?" asked the preacher.

"Because a' some of the immoral and sinful things that little girl has done. _ Is_ doing," she corrected. "She's a lesbian!"

The silence that filled the church was palpable, and Lilly could hear every pounding beat of her heart resound in that vacuum before she spoke. "I married Miley Stewart almost two years ago, but absolutely nothing about that was immoral or sinful. I've known Miley for over six years, and I fell in love with her not long after I met her. We got married because we wanted to make our relationship official legally and before God, although He sure knew about us being in love a long time before we ever figured it out."

"Don't you _dare_ try to say that the Almighty sent such sinful urges into your hearts, young lady!" screeched the woman, whom Lilly decided must be Kristy's mother.

"I'm not _trying_ to say anything," Lilly said calmly. "I _am_ saying that God made Miley and me the way he did, and we fell in love. We're spending the rest of our lives together here on earth, and then we're spending the rest of time together after that." Lilly held up a hand to forestall the inevitable retort, adding, "If God decides we're going to Hell when we die, then that's where we'll go. But we'll be together." Lilly reached down and instantly felt Miley's hand curl around her own. She drew strength from that simple contact, and she made up her mind to not lose her temper tonight. Not in this holy place. God deserved more respect than that. "Now, all I'm asking is that my wife, the Miley Stewart that grew up in this church that I bet most of you know and remember, have the right to be buried with the woman she loves—and to whom she's sworn to faithfully spend her life with _before God Himself_—in the same cemetery with the rest of her family." Lilly looked around at the faces in the church, every one looking steadily at her.

"I don't know most of you," she said, "but I plan on changing that. Miley and I are living in California right now because that's where we're going to school and where we're working, but the times I've come back here with her have shown me just how beautiful and special a place Tennessee is. I promise that we'll come back here as often as we can, because I want to get to know this place where the woman I love grew up. This was her home for a long time, and that would be enough for me to love this place. But I want to get to know all of you, because you're always going to be a part of her life, and that means you're a part of my life too. When we start our own family, I want—" Lilly stopped for a minute to swipe at her eye, where an errant tear was about to escape. "I want to be able to bring our children here and watch them stand up there and sing with all the other kids here. I want to be able to watch them in Christmas pageants, and plays, and musicals, just like every other parent does. I want to help with the Easter egg hunts, and watch our children run around with their little baskets. I want to be proud of my family, just like everyone else here." Dolly handed Lilly a tissue, and she gratefully took it, taking a minute to wipe her eyes.

"If twenty-three thousand dollars isn't enough, then I'll gladly pay more for this, because Miley deserves to be buried with her mother when it's our time to go. She's been separated from her long enough, and trying to keep them apart even more just because Miley fell in love with me is _wrong_!" Lilly looked down at Miley, who was gazing up at her with a warm, loving smile on her face. _I love you_, Miley mouthed to Lilly, and those three words energized Lilly like nothing else. "I was scared tonight, because I didn't know how everyone was going to react to this. To us. But I'm not scared any more, because I have my wife with me. God made Miley and me for each other, and we know that. Please give us a chance and get to know us before you cast judgment on us."

Before Lilly could sit down, Miley suddenly stood. "Hey everybody," she said as she put her arm around Lilly, supporting her best friend. "I know it's been a while since most of you saw me, and I've grown up since then, obviously. Losing my mom made me grow up kinda fast, even though my daddy did a great job taking care of me and Jackson. Aunt Dolly was a huge help too, and she taught me to follow my heart... no matter where it took me." Miley smiled down at Dolly, who was fighting tears of own in an attempt to save her mascara. "That was the best advice I ever got, I think," Miley said, looking back up. "Today my life is really terrific, and most of that is because of this woman who started out as my only friend in the whole state of California and became the best friend anyone could ever ask for. When I realized that I was fallin' in love with her, I was scared. So I did a lot of thinkin' and a lot of prayin'. And finally I saw that out of that whole huge state of California, out of the whole _country_, God had put Lilly and me together. He wanted us to be together. And Lilly had figured out the same thing."

"I was against their being together at first," said a loud voice at the rear of the church. Heads swiveled to see none other than Miley's aunt Vickie, standing at one of the rear pews. "And I was against having my grandchildren around them, too. But..." Vickie smiled and held a hand out, pointed toward Miley and Lilly. "They're in love," she said simply with a smile. "And they're both good young women. They've been better for my granddaughters than I ever could have hoped for, because they can talk to them about iPods, and text messages, and computers, and just being girls today much better than I could ever hope to." Vickie paused for a moment, then she added, "And they have so much love and goodness in their hearts that it makes me feel ashamed, because I don't have that much inside me." Her voice broke at the end of that sentence, but she quickly regained her composure. "A love like theirs could only come from the Almighty," Vickie said with a serious voice, "because no imperfect creatures like us could create something that amazing and powerful."

Miley and Lilly both had tears running down their cheeks when Vickie finished. "Thank you," they both said together to Miley's older aunt, unable to express their gratitude any more eloquently.

Everyone turned to the preacher, still standing in the pulpit at the front of the church. After long moments he said, "The apostle Paul said, 'There is neither Greek nor Jew, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Jesus Christ.' I think that reflects God's position fairly well." He looked at Miley and Lilly and smiled. "What is the favor of the church regarding the sale of these cemetery plots?"

"I move that we proceed with the sale," said Dolly, raising her hand.

"Seconded," said several voices from around the church.

The preacher said, "All in favor..." then he paused. "Raise your hands," he said, sending a small ripple of surprise through the church.

Miley raised her hand, as did Dolly and Lilly. As they did so, Miley tugged down Lilly's arm and whispered in her ear, "Only church members can vote, sweetheart. But normally they call for a voice vote, so I'm not sure why he's wantin' everybody to raise their hands."

Dolly leaned over and whispered back, "He knows it's probably goin' to come down to a close vote, for one thing. But he also knows it's harder to be a bigot when you have to account for it in front of your friends and neighbors."

Sure enough, the vote was close. Lilly tried to not be nervous, but she could feel a trickle of sweat sliding its way down the small of her back as the votes were quickly counted, first the affirmatives—nineteen in total—then the negatives. Lilly squeezed Miley's hand as she finished counting the votes against just ahead of the moderator. Twelve. The church had voted in their favor.

"The church approves the sale of six cemetery plots adjoining the Robbie Ray and Brooke Stewart plots," said the preacher. "Miss... Trescott, was it?"

"Truscott," Lilly said happily. "And it's Mrs. Truscott, please."

"Mrs. Truscott, then," the older man said. "Congratulations. And we expect to be seeing more of you and little Miley when you come visit." He smiled at the two young women, then he said, "I seem to remember Miley had a one-of-a-kind singin' voice when she was just a little thing. You still sing any, Miley?"

Miley blushed slightly, but she clearly said, "A little bit. Every now and then."

"Well, maybe you'd share a song with us one Sunday," said Preacher O'Neal.

Miley grinned and said, "I'll see what I can do."

"I look forward to hearin' it, then," he said. "And Mrs. Lilly, I'll have the church treasurer talk to you after the business meetin', so you can work out the arrangements for payin'."

"Thank you," Lilly said, clutching her hands—with Miley's poor hand still sandwiched in between them—to her chest. She turned to look at the rest of the church and said, "Thank you. If you voted against this, please just... give us the chance to get to know us. I just want the woman I love to be buried with the rest of her family, and I want to be with her, too. And our children with us, if that's what they want."

Miley looked around the church, and she noted that the few people she had seen voting against them couldn't bring themselves to look Lilly in the eyes as she spoke. That said enough, as far as Miley was concerned.

"Do we have any further new business?" asked Preacher O'Neal, and when nothing further was said, he said, "Then do we have a motion to adjourn?"

Almost immediately someone spoke up with, "So moved," followed just as swiftly with three or four people saying, "Seconded!" The preacher smiled and said, "Then if there's no objection..." He paused for a few seconds, then declared, "So adjourned."

Dolly stood and hugged Miley and Lilly so tightly that Miley started flailing around. "Sorry, Miley," Dolly said, releasing them from her strong embrace.

"S'ok," Miley said, rubbing her throat. "Your boobs were just kinda cuttin' off my airway!"

Lilly giggled. She had been lucky enough to have Miley take the brunt of Dolly's breast assault. "Thanks for being here for us tonight, Dolly," Lilly said, rubbing Miley's back.

"Aw shucks, darlin', I wouldn't have missed this for nothin'!" Dolly got her purse, and the three of them stepped into the aisle to walk out when Dolly turned and said, "And if you two talk to that other niece of mine, tell her that I hope that whatever foolishness she's up to tonight works out good for her."

Miley and Lilly looked at each other, both knowing that Luanne was caught. "I don't think it's foolishness, Aunt Dolly," Miley said. "I think it's pretty serious."

"And we hope it goes well for her, too," Lilly added. "We'll let you know as soon as we hear anything, okay?"

"You just keep an eye on her, you hear? She's always been a little too smart for her own good," Dolly added with a knowing smile. "But she sure seems to be gettin' better."

"Yeah, she sure is," Miley said, and then she and Lilly were surrounded by members of the church who were interested in getting to know the now grown-up Miley and her wife. As Miley handled introductions, she noticed that Lilly was beaming at being accepted by so many of the church members. Sure, there were going to be some people upset about this, like Kristy and her mother who sulked out without further fireworks, but by and large the Misty Hollow community was an accepting place.

In Malibu, the sun was beginning its slow descent toward the horizon as Luanne and Ron strolled along the beach, the surf splashing across their bare feet in a soothing caress. "So you're not wanting to run away from me and my psycho past?" Luanne asked Ron, a smile on her face.

"Apparently not," he said with a straight face. "Luanne, I can't change your past, and neither can you. But that's not the Luanne that I've fallen in love with. That's not the woman I'm walking along the beach with. And that's not the woman that I'm giving this to." He stopped and held out a small box.

The sun illuminated the small burgundy box as Luanne simply stared at it for a few seconds. Slowly she reached for it, her hands trembling ever so slightly as they finally reached it, touching the velveteen surface. She fumbled with the stiff lid, but she managed to get it open. The brilliance of the sun's rays instantly reflected and refracted from the white gold band and single diamond in a plain radiant cut.

"It's not much, but I wanted to make sure I got a good one for you. I figured that it was better to get a smaller diamond that was a better quality than to get a bigger one with lots of flaws. I mean, that'd kinda be setting a bad tone for our future, wouldn't it?"

Luanne looked up at Ron and said, "You are so goofy sometimes, Ron, but I swear I love you."

Ron grinned, then he dropped to one knee, right into the pounding of the surf. He made sure to keep the box well out of the reach of the waves as he said, "Luanne Stewart, will you marry me?"

On the rare occasions when she had dared to think about a moment like this, Luanne had always made sure to coyly take her time in answering that very question, drawing things out for a laugh or a joke. But now that this particular fantasy of hers had come true, she realized that she didn't want to do a damn thing to drag this out any longer. "Yes, I'll marry you, Ron," she said simply as she took the ring out of the box and slid it onto her left ring finger. It fit perfectly, and she suspected that Ron had probably quizzed his sister for information regarding ring sizes at some point.

Ron grinned and stood up, then he grabbed Luanne and held her tightly as the two of them kissed, the waves rushing against their legs as the sun began to set behind Luanne. As soon as they pulled their lips apart, Luanne looked up into Ron's bright blue eyes and said, "Something about those eyes... They show so much of your heart and your feelings if you look into them long enough."

Ron looked back and turned their bodies slightly, just enough for a small bit of sunlight to illuminate Luanne's face. He smiled and said, "Funny, I was thinking the same thing about yours."

Luanne kissed him again, this time not holding back any of the passion, the joy, the relief that was dancing throughout her heart at that moment. "I love you," she whispered, and only her proximity to his ear made her words audible over the roar of the ocean.

He smiled as he looked at her, then he said in a normal voice, "I sort of figured that out when you said yes." He braced himself for the smack on the arm he expected, but instead Luanne just stared at him with her own deep blue eyes.

"Come with me," she said, tugging him by the hand toward Miley's and Lilly's house. "There's something else I need to tell you."

As they walked, Ron playfully tried to guess what secret Luanne was going to share with him.

"You're really an assassin for the CIA!"

"No, goofy."

"Um, you're on a reality show, and this is all going to be a big joke played on me? Because that wouldn't be very funny, since—"

"No, this is for real. You're stuck with me now."

"You're really a man!"

"Ew, _no_! All Southern lady here, big boy."

"You're taking me to a motel to have wild crazy sex with me!"

Luanne looked over her shoulder and casually said, "We're not going to a motel." She smiled a slick smile that sent shivers up his back and then down again, leaving him momentarily speechless. "But I really do have something that I have to tell you first, and it's super important."

They stopped and rinsed off their feet at the sprayer next to the back porch, finally stepping on the deck and wiping their feet on the mat placed there for just such a purpose. Luanne unlocked the door and stepped inside, relishing the cool air inside the house. It was still hotter than she was used to, but it was a lovely contrast to the heat still sweltering outside. "Sit down," she said gently, lightly pushing Ron toward the couch. As he sat, Luanne did as well, their knees just barely touching as they looked at each other.

Luanne gathered her courage as she looked into his eyes. "What I'm about to tell you is something so secret that only five people in this whole world know it. For you, it shouldn't change much of anything, but for some others it could turn their world upside down. I need you to promise me that you won't reveal this to anyone else. Please."

Ron thought for a few seconds, but there really wasn't anything to ponder. She was trusting him with this knowledge, whatever it was, and the least he could do was to respect her trust. "I promise I won't tell anyone else."

A smile crept back across Luanne's face, and she felt a weight fall from her shoulders. "Okay." She took Ron's hands and held them in her own. "Ron, Miley's not really my cousin. She's..." Luanne swallowed. "She's my twin sister." She saw a look of confusion flash across his face, and she smiled again to try to soothe his thoughts. "We tell people that we're cousins, because we thought that's what we were for a really, really long time. It wasn't until Christmas two and a half years ago that we learned the truth.

"When... our mom was in labor with us, Bobby Ray's—Robbie Ray's twin brother—wife was also in labor. They were in the same delivery room, and the only family present was my Mamaw Ruthie. Now, everybody thought that our mom was only carrying one baby, because an early ultrasound showed us both, but the second one missed me for some reason. Anyway, Bobby Ray's wife had some complications, and both she and the baby died. At the same time, Miley was born, then I kinda surprised everyone and came on out right after her.

"So Mamaw felt like God had given her a chance to spare her son from losing both his wife and his daughter on the same day. She talked everyone in the delivery room into saying that his daughter had survived, and that I was her. The nurses and doctor were really torn up from what had happened, and so they agreed to it. After all, my birth parents were only expecting one baby, not two, so it wouldn't be changing what they were expecting to happen. What Mamaw didn't think about was how Bobby Ray would react to losing his wife. He started drinking, and when he started hitting me I just took it. I had grown up thinking that I had killed my momma when I born, and I didn't want to do anything that would take my daddy away too."

"Oh Lu..." Ron said, reaching up to gently cup her left cheek with his hand. "Did you carry that guilt your whole childhood?"

Luanne nodded. It was still difficult to talk about this, but it had to come out. The really hard part was over, at least. "It twisted me. It made me into someone cruel and angry, who lashed out at others to try and make them feel some of the pain that I carried around, like I was telling your mom. It was your sister who found out the truth and told Miley and me, and the two of them forgave me for everything I had done to them. They _forgave_ me, Ron, when I had been so horrible to them, because..." Luanne closed her eyes against the tears. "Because I was family, and they loved me." She opened her eyes again, glistening with unshed tears. "They saved my life, and my mind, and my soul, Ron. They got me into some psychiatric treatment, and I spent almost a year in a really great place in Nashville getting my mind back together. I'm pretty good now, and I make sure that I take my medicines and see my counselor regularly. I'll do anything to keep that darkness inside me from controlling me again."

"So what does that mean for us?" Ron asked. "I mean, is it going to be weird for us to get married since you being Miley's sister makes you, like, my sister-in-law?"

Luanne laughed. "Loving you doesn't feel weird at all to me," she said. "Does it to you?"

"No," Ron said, shaking his head slowly as he smiled. "It feels just right."

"There's your answer," she said, running her fingers through his sandy blonde hair. "Anyway, the only people who know are Miley, Lilly, Mamaw, Kaela and me. And now you. We still tell everybody that we're cousins, because the truth would totally fuck up _way_ too many lives in my family. I mean, I still call Bobby Ray my daddy, because he was my daddy growing up. And he got off the booze several years ago. We're slowly rebuilding a relationship, and my stepmom Noel has been really great to me. I don't want to suddenly lose all that. And finding out that he'd had another daughter all this time that he had never known about would probably hurt Robbie Ray pretty bad, and I can't do that to him. As far as I'm concerned, as long as Miley, Lilly, and Kae know, I'm perfectly happy with it staying between us. But I wanted you to know, because I have to be honest with you."

Ron smiled and asked, "So, any other big huge secrets I should know about?"

Luanne felt her breath stick in her chest for just a second. "Not for me," she said, "but there is one other secret in the family. That one isn't for me to tell, though, and there's a really good reason it stays a secret. When it's time for you to find out about it, then someone else will have to be the one to tell you. It's nothing like a psycho killer in the family or anything like that, I promise you." Luanne leaned forward and kissed Ron lightly. "Let's see how you do with this secret, and then maybe I can get them to tell you the other one."

Ron kissed Luanne again, and again. "I can live with that," he said, his heart pounding.

Luanne stood and took his hand. "Come on," she said, tugging him to his feet. "There's a guest room upstairs that I use when I'm here, and it's time that we share this." As they reached the foot of the stairs, Luanne turned to look at Ron. She could see he was slightly pale, so she put her arms around him and said, "I know this is going to be your first time, Ron, so I need you to just relax. I'm not going anywhere, even if we do nothing but just lay in the bed and hold each other, okay?"

He nodded. His nerves were on fire, because he was so afraid he was going to screw this up. He felt he was about to bust out of his shorts already, and they weren't even in the bedroom yet.

Luanne gently ran her fingers across his cheek and gently said, "Relax. Take some deep breaths. I want you to know that no matter what happens, whether we make love for thirty seconds or three hours, I'm going to love it because it's you and me. No one else. Nothing between us. Just us, touching each other. Connecting with each other. I'm on the pill, so you don't have to worry about getting me pregnant. It's too soon for that, anyway."

Ron's heart was still racing, but he managed to say with a shaky voice, "Thanks. I really am nervous." And she could tell that he was being painfully honest with her by his face.

"I know," she said. Then she smiled and said, "To tell you the truth, I'm nervous too. I've never made love to anyone before. I've had sex a few times, but I've never ever cared about anyone I was with until now." She took the first step up the stairs, gently pulling him along. "I want to feel this with you," she said as they climbed the stairs into the next phase of their relationship.

Back in Misty Hollow, Miley carefully blew on the base of the fire, trying to get the kindling to catch. As the flames happily lapped up the length of the sticks banked against each other, Miley smiled and sat back on the quilt next to Lilly, who immediately wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. "And that's how you build and start a fire," Miley said to Peyton and Melody.

The camping spot that they liked to use was a small clearing in the woods behind Ruthie's house, fairly level but still surrounded by trees and dense woods all around it. The trees around here were mostly pines, so even in winter there was always a pleasant wall of green encircling the campsite. A semi-permanent fire ring had been built here long ago, long before Miley and Jackson had started camping up here, and generally all it took to get the campsite ready was to clear any fallen tree limbs, check the fire ring, and set up any tents. A small but substantial river was less than a quarter of a mile away, but all the Stewarts had been taught to either bring their own water or something to purify any water from the river that they planned on drinking.

"So why are we having a fire anyway?" asked Melody. "I mean, it's almost summer. It's, like, ninety degrees out here, even with night falling."

"It'll get cool after it gets dark. And it's part of camping," Miley said, giving her younger "niece" a Look. "So just enjoy it."

"And how are we supposed to roast marshmallows without a campfire?" added Lilly cheerily.

"Oh yeah!" said Melody, with Peyton happily clapping as well. "Thanks for taking us camping, Aunt Miley and Aunt Lilly."

"You're welcome, girls," said Miley and Lilly at the same time, sending the little girls into a tittering fit.

"How do you two do that so much?" asked Peyton.

Lilly and Miley looked at each other, then Lilly said, "Because we understand each other. That's why."

The sounds of snapping branches drew all four girls' attention to the woods to their left. After a few seconds, a bright blue shirt could clearly be seen through the trees, with Jackson's face visible right before he stepped into the clearing. Just steps behind was Kaela, wearing a camouflage t-shirt and jeans. Both of them had backpacks, with Jackson carrying a longer case slung over his shoulder.

"'Bout time you showed up," Miley said to her brother. "It's gettin' dark. You get lost again?"

"No!" said Jackson hastily. "I most certainly did not get lost. I wanted to show Kaela some a' the flowers that grow around the woods here, and I wanted her to get to see the river."

Kaela dropped her backpack as she joined the four girls on the large quilt spread out along the ground. "We got lost," she said simply. "Well, my husband got lost. Since I've never been here, I'm not sure I could actually 'get' lost, because I didn't have a clue where we were supposed to be going anyway."

"Well, the little Stewarts here can take you down to the river and show you where the bathroom is," Miley said. "We'll help Jackson put up the tent."

"You have a real bathroom up here?" Kaela asked, surprised.

"Uh..." said Miley, with Lilly finishing, "...no."

"Ah. Gotcha," said Kaela. "Do we at least have some toilet paper?"

"That we got covered," Lilly said with a smile. "Inside our tent, in the blue bag on the floor."

"Kae?" said Miley as the three girls started toward the river.

"Yeah?"

Miley smiled. "We're really glad you could make it. We love you two."

Kaela smiled back. "Wouldn't miss it for the world, Miles."

Several hours later, the camp was quiet. The night sky was glittering with countless stars as two dark shadows quietly slipped out of the larger of the two tents set up along the campsite, trying not to wake the two smaller figures still asleep inside the tent. The flickering light from the fire painted the faces of Miley and Lilly, revealing girlish grins as they stole out of their tent. They carried a large quilt and a smaller blanket with them, as well as a small pack that Miley carried. Miley silently placed a few more limbs on the fire, carefully arranging them so there would be no chance of them falling beyond the boundary of the large fire ring, then she joined Lilly as they slipped out of the camp. They used a flashlight to find their way to the river, where the woods opened back up and revealed the moon and stars in all their brilliant glory.

Without a word, they went to work, Miley finding a grassy patch and removing any sticks or pine cones and then Lilly spreading the quilt over the ground just a few feet from the river. Miley switched off the flashlight, dropping it on the quilt next to her pack as she saw Lilly take off her nightshirt. Miley smiled as she did the same, and in seconds the two girls were naked and holding each other as closely as possible, their hot skin sending tingles over each other's body. Miley reached back for the blanket, making sure it was where she had left it, then she felt Lilly gently enter her as they kissed. "Lilly..." Miley whispered as her hands slid over her wife's body, touching, sensing, feeling. Loving, as they also slid into Lilly tenderly. "I love you."

Lilly paused to kiss Miley before they resumed making love, not stopping until long minutes had passed and both girls were satisfied for now. Lilly curled her body against Miley's, ignoring the rough contour of the ground underneath them for now. Soon they would be back in the tent with their nieces, resting on the large inflatable air mattress they had brought with them. But for now, it was only the two of them, under the night sky in the middle of the woods. As Lilly listened to the sounds of the woods around them, the burbling of the river as it flowed steadily by them, the hooting and whistling of birds and insects, she found her ears focusing on one sound that she was sure she could recognize anywhere: a heartbeat that always kept time with her own. She smiled as she hugged Miley more tightly, and she whispered, "Love you, Miles. Thank you for sharing this with me."

Miley opened her eyes and looked into Lilly's eyes, pupils as wide as she had ever seen them in the soft glow of the moonlight. "I wouldn't have ever shared this with anyone else, Lilly. Not ever." She kissed Lilly tenderly, then she said, "I love you."

Back at the camp, Kaela and Jackson were stretched out on a foam sleeping mat, covered with only a light blanket. Jackson still held Kaela's surprise for him, which she had given to him after everyone had gone to bed. Although faded, the faint shape of a plus sign could still be seen in the window of the home pregnancy test wand. Kaela smiled in her sleep as she pulled her husband's arms around her more closely, content with telling the rest of their family tomorrow.

Across the country, Oliver slowly rose from Ashley's bed and put on his shirt. "What time is your mom getting home again?" he asked.

"In about thirty minutes," Ashley said as she stretched out in her bed. Her shimmering blue silk nightshirt clung to her body, making Oliver pause in his dressing. "See something you like?" Ashley asked, her arms raised over her head in a way that she knew threw her lithe chest into stark relief, particularly with her sheer nightshirt.

"I see a lot that I like," Oliver said with a grin, "but I'd sorta like to live long enough to marry you, and if your mom catches me here when I'm supposed to be working, that might not happen."

Ashley laughed, then she motioned for him to come back over to her. As Oliver bent over for her to kiss him, Ashley softly said, "Be careful going home. I love you."

They kissed briefly, then Oliver replied with, "Love you too, Ash. I'll give you a call when I get home."

"You better."

Oliver smiled as he hurried out of the bedroom and downstairs. He made it to his car and was back out on the road long before Kimiyo DeWitt pulled into her driveway, and true to his word he called Ashley when he got back home.

Several miles away but still in Malibu, Cassie Hughes stepped into her apartment. "I had a great time tonight, Pete," she said to Peter Corelli, who had walked her to her door.

"So," asked Mr. Corelli, "what in the world made a woman who looks as amazing as you ask _me_ out?"

"Because," Cassie said as she smoothed out his shirt, "some very smart friends of mine showed me that we should never be too quick to judge whether or not someone is right for us because of what's on the outside."

Peter smiled, the honest, intelligent smile that Cassie had grown to love, and he asked, "Or because they might both happen to be girls?"

Cassie smiled. "What can I say? The two of them are poster children for love." Cassie stretched up to kiss Peter, a long kiss goodnight. As she pulled away, her heart tingling, she said, "They inspired me to listen to what my heart was telling me."

"Then I'm glad I was nice to them while I had them in class."

Cassie laughed and playfully pushed Peter in the chest. "You're nice to everybody, because that's who you are. And that's one of the things I love about you, Pete."

"I had a terrific time tonight, Cass. Like always."

"Same here." Cassie kissed him again, then she stepped back inside her apartment. "Goodnight, Pete. You up for something tomorrow once I get my laundry done?"

"Always. Night, Cass. Sleep well." He made sure she got her door closed and locked, then he walked to his car. He had some time before the gym closed, and he needed to cool down before he could ever hope to sleep, anyway. He looked up at the night sky. It _had_ been a beautiful night.

A little over a mile away, two teenagers curled together in a bed, holding each other chastely but warmly. Sarah leaned back into Dani's long arms, holding her tightly as they slept in their first sleepover since they had secretly resumed dating last month. Sarah's family had indeed calmed down some over her coming out, but they had adamantly refused to let the two girls have a sleepover with just the two of them. Instead they had insisted that each girl bring at least one friend, to prevent any amorous encounters during the night. So stretched out on the floor next to the bed were Sarah's "friend" Jaime Escante and Dani's "friend" Gina Giles, spooned together in a loving embrace much like Sarah and Dani. Eventually Sarah's parents would figure out the ruse, but it wouldn't be tonight.

And back at the beach house that was home to Miley, Lilly and Robby Ray Stewart, Luanne ran her fingers through Ron's soft hair as they lay in bed together. They had gone back to his house, where they had shared the news of their engagement with Phil and Meredith Truscott. Luanne had also asked for Ron to stay with her that night, since she would otherwise be in her sister's and sister-in-law's house by herself. After only a second's pause Meredith had agreed, surprising both Luanne and Ron. "Your cousin has been wonderful to my daughter, Luanne," Meredith had said. "And I expect you to do the same for my son."

"I swear I will, Meredith," Luanne had replied. "And I swear it to you, too, Mr. Truscott." Luanne still couldn't bring herself to address her future father-in-law by his first name, despite the comfortable rapport she had established with Meredith. Hopefully, she could overcome that with time.

As she listened to the sound of the ocean rushing in and out through the open window in the bedroom, Luanne closed her eyes, at peace with her world.

_As Luanne emerged from the comfort of a good night's sleep, something was wrong. No, not exactly wrong, but... different. She sat up straight in the bed, feeling beside her for Ron. He was still there, which relieved her first fear, that of him leaving her. Ah. The noise of the ocean. _That_ was what was missing. She had gone to bed with the window open, because the sound of the waves was soothing to her. She walked over to the window and opened it again, smiling as she heard the surging sounds of the tides once again._

_A small cry, almost like a squeak came from behind her, and she nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned to find the source of that odd noise. In the shadows across the guest room, she suddenly became aware that someone else was in the room with her and Ron, and her blood ran cold as old instincts surged back to the surface. The intruder was calmly sitting in a rocking chair next to what looked like a..._

_A crib. Luanne felt her breath catch in her chest as her mind now placed what that unusual cry was. It was a baby._

_Carefully Luanne walked over to the crib, but the intruder continued to sit in the chair, rocking slowly. As Luanne looked into the corner, her eyes adjusted enough to make out that the intruder was a woman, with long hair, but before Luanne could discern any more details, she clearly heard a whimper from the crib that sounded much like, "Mama."_

_She looked into the crib, and she saw a blonde-headed little boy, somewhere around eighteen months old. He had kicked his blanket off and was starting to fuss when Luanne heard the woman in the rocking chair speak._

"_He's wantin' his momma, you know." The voice was kind and calm, and strangely it seemed to soothe Luanne's jangled nerves. She reached into the crib, and carefully lifted the little boy out. He was heavier than he looked, but Luanne was stronger than she looked, too. As she settled him into her arms, his fussing stopped. A tiny smile appeared on his face, and Luanne felt herself start to breathe again as he relaxed._

"_Sit and rock with him," said the woman, who stood to let Luanne sit in the chair. "He likes that."_

_Luanne sat, and then she spared another look at this woman who had been just sitting in the bedroom, watching her and Ron sleep. "Who are you?" Luanne asked. "Are you his mother?"_

_The woman smiled, and the smile looked familiar, somehow. "No, Luanne," the woman said. "You are."_

"_I... am?" Luanne asked, looking back down at the sleeping form she was carefully cradling in her arms. As she looked, she could see that the boy's fine blonde hair was much like Ron's, and the cheeks did have a strong resemblance to baby pictures of her and Miley. But how could she— "A dream," Luanne said, flatly. "This is a dream."_

"_Yes," said the strange woman, who sat on the settee in front of the rocking chair. "But not a dream like you had several months ago."_

"_How did you know about that?" Luanne asked, remembering to keep her voice low so as not to wake the baby or Ron._

_Instead of answering her question, the woman just smiled as she reached out and gently placed her index finger in the baby's right hand. His tiny fingers instantly curled around the much larger finger, gripping it as tightly as he could. As the woman looked up into Luanne's eyes, eyes as blue as her own stared at her, and suddenly Luanne knew who she was._

"_I've been waiting a long time to talk to you, Luanne," her mother said. "But while your heart was so troubled, I couldn't reach you. But now your heart's free, baby girl, and I can finally tell you that I love you, and I'm proud of the brave young woman you've become."_

_Luanne couldn't help but cry as she shifted her grip to hold her son with one arm and flung her other arm around her mother, hugging her tightly for the first time ever. "I love you, Momma," she whispered through her tears._

Back in Tennessee, Miley and Lilly sat in front of the fire, a light blanket wrapped around them as they leaned against each other. Lilly looked up at the stars, watching one in particular as it seemed to wink at her. "You ever have one of those nights where it just feels like everything's right with the world, Miley?" she asked.

Miley looked at her best friend, her face lit by the orange glow of the campfire. "Only since I've been with you," she replied truthfully. "And don't you _even_ think about wishin' on a star, girlfriend!" she added more forcefully, getting a laugh out of Lilly.

"Why would I?" Lilly asked as she kissed Miley on the lips and then rested her head on Miley's shoulder. "I already have everything I need in you, and in our future together."

"Love you, Lilly Bear."

"Love you too, Miley Pie."

**END**

_I'm gonna follow my own lead, yeah_

_Kick back and feel the breeze_

_Nothing but the blue sky as far as I can see_

_This is the life_

_Hold on tight_

_And this is the dream_

_It's all I need_

_You never know where you'll find it_

_And I'm gonna take my time, yeah_

_I'm still getting it right_

_This is the life._

Hannah Montana; "This Is the Life"

**Author's Note:**

Wow. Lots to cover in this final chapter, but we made it. I hope you enjoyed it, because I love chronicling the lives of our heroines. I'd like to leave you with a few lines from a beautiful article called "Our Mutual Joy" that ran in the December 15th, 2008, issue of _Newsweek_. Preacher O'Neal's quotation of the apostle Paul in the chapter above was taken directly from that article, and I have to credit the author Lisa Miller for it as such. In her article, Miller presents an very eye-opening look at scripture and what exactly it has to say about gay marriage (hint: it's not what those who often cite the Bible against gay marriage think). I personally love this section from the article: _"We want, as Abraham did, to grow old surrounded by friends and family and to be buried at last peacefully among them. We want, as Jesus taught, to love one another for our own good—and, not to be too grandiose about it, for the good of the world. We want our children to grow up in stable homes. What happens in the bedroom, really, has nothing to do with any of this." _Eloquently said. I can only hope that more people read this article. Go to your library or find it online, because it's very illuminating.

Thank you for reading this story, and I hope it's brought a little more joy and happiness into your life than you had when you first started reading it. Remember to put more love and happiness into the world every day, and I'll see you soon.

Oh, the next story? Well, it's going to pick up a little over three years after the end of this one, and there's going to be all sorts of excitement in it for Miley and Lilly. There's even going to be a rather big surprise at the end of the very first chapter, too, so don't miss it! I'll see all of you very, very soon with "We Got Nerve."

Jo


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